and let's all stand together,
we'll sing hymn number 42. Hymn number 42. ? All hail the power of Jesus'
name ? Bring forth the royal diadem
and crown him Lord of all. Bring forth the royal
diadem and crown ? Ye chosen seed of Israel's grace
? Be ransomed from the fall ? Hail, hail, who saves you by his grace
? And crowned him Lord of all Hail Him who saves you by His
grace, and crown Him Lord of all. Let every kindred, every
tribe, on this terrestrial ball ? To him all majesty ascribe
? ? And crown him Lord of all ? ? To him all majesty ascribe
? ? And crown him Lord of all ? Oh, that with yonder sacred throne
we at his feet may fall, we'll join the everlasting song and
proudly Be seated, we'll sing hymn number
37. Hymn number 37. O Lord my God, when I in awesome
wonder Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made, I see the stars ? The rolling thunder ? Thy power
throughout ? The universe displayed ? And sings my soul ? My Savior
God to Thee ? How great Thou art ? How great
Thou art ? It sings my soul ? My Savior God to Thee ? How great Thou art ? ? How great
Thou art ? ? When through the woods ? ? And
forest glades I wander ? and hear the birds sing sweetly
in the trees. When I look down from lofty mountain
grandeur, and feel the gentle breeze. Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee. How great Thou art, How great Thou art! How great Thou art! And when I think that God is
Son not sparing, sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in. and gladly bearing. He bled and died to take away
my sin. Then sings my soul, my Savior,
? How great Thou art ? How great
Thou art ? Then sings my soul ? My Savior God to Thee ? How
great Thou art When Christ shall come With shout
of acclamation Then take me home, what joy shall
fill my heart Then I shall bow in humble adoration there proclaim, my God, how great
Thou art. Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee, how great Thou Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee. How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Well, He's so great when we get
into eternity, we still won't know all there is to know about
Him. Psalm 40, Psalm 40. I waited patiently for the Lord,
and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up
also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set
my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And He hath put a
new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see
it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord. Blessed is that
man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the
proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. Many, O Lord my God,
are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts
which are to usward. They cannot be reckoned up in
order unto thee. If I would declare and speak
of them, they are more than can be numbered. Sacrifice and offering
thou didst not desire. Mine ears hast thou not opened.
My burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required? Then said I, Lo, I come, in the
volume of the book it is written of me. I delight to do thy will,
O my God, yea, thy law is within my heart. I have preached righteousness
in the great congregation, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord,
thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness
within my heart, I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation,
I have not concealed Thy lovingkindness and Thy truth from the great
congregation. Withhold not Thy tender mercies
from me, O Lord. Let Thy lovingkindness and truth
continually preserve me, for innumerable evils have compassed
me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me so that I am not able to look up. They are more than
the hairs of mine head, therefore my heart faileth me. Be pleased,
O Lord, to deliver me. O Lord, make haste to help me. Let them be ashamed and confounded
together that seek after my soul to destroy it. Let them be driven
backward and put to shame that wish me evil. Let them be desolate
for a reward of their shame that they say unto me, Aha! Aha! Let all that seek thee rejoice
and be glad in thee. Let such as love thy salvation
say continually, The Lord be magnified. But I am poor and
needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Thou art my help and
my deliverer, make no tearing, O my God." Oh, our great, glorious, and
blessed God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, We just sung,
How Great Thou Art. Lord, we can sing it, but we
don't know how great you really are. Lord, from what you say
in your Word, we get just a glimpse of you. We get, as Moses did,
we see your hinder part as you put us in the cleft of the rock.
And when we see your glory, that's all we see is just the hinder
part. But Lord, we thank You that You've put us in the cleft
of the rock. We thank You that You've hid us in the Lord Jesus
Christ. We thank You that You sent Your
Son to die, our sin, our sin gladly bearing. O Lord, when
we think of our Savior bearing all of our sin, He said here
that His iniquities were more than the hairs of His head. And
O Lord Jesus, He Himself said in one place, I'm a worm and
no man. Lord, He comes down here to so
identify with us that He actually was able to bear all our griefs,
all our sorrows, all our sin, all the shame, all the guilt,
all the rebellion, all the enmity, all the hatred we had in our
hearts for You. He slew it all. He took it all
away. And I'm so thankful, Lord. Oh, how I bless You, Holy Name,
that You took the anger of God away from us and took the anger
out of our hearts toward God. You slew the enmity. You reconciled
us, brought us together, and I thank You for it. Meet with
us here today. Give us Your blessed presence.
Lord, as we say so many times, come down among us. Lord, visit
this Thy vine. Visit these Thy trees of righteousness
that You've planted. O Lord Jesus, come. Help us to
honor and glorify Your holy name. Please make the gospel run well.
May a sinner be saved and brought to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
May the saints be edified and established in the faith. May
hearts be touched, minds be freed, hearts blessed and lifted up.
Please meet the needs of those that are weak and frail in body.
We ask these things in our Lord Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Hymn number 288. 288. Far away
in the depths of my spirit tonight rolls
a melody In celestial-like strains it
unceasingly falls, O'er my soul like an infinite gall. Peace, peace, Sleep over my spirit forever,
I pray, In bathroom-less pillows of love. What a treasure I have in this
wonderful peace Buried deep in the heart of my soul So secure
that no power Peace, peace, wonderful peace, coming down from above. ? From the Father above ? ? Sweep
over my spirit ? ? Forever I pray ? ? And fathomless billows of
love ? I am resting tonight in this
wonderful peace, resting sweetly in Jesus' control. for I'm kept from all danger
by night and by day and His glory is flooding my soul. Peace, peace, wonderful the father spirit ? Forever I pray ? In fathomless
fields of love ? Bind me, things, when I rise to that city of peace of peace I shall see. That one strain of the song which
the red sun will sing that heavenly kingdom shall be. Peace, peace, wonderful peace
Coming down from the Father above Sleep over nicely Forever I pray
in fathomless billows of love. O soul, are you here without
comfort and rest, marching down the rough pathway of time? Call on Jesus the Lord. Call
on Jesus the Lord. the shadows grow dark, O believe
this sweet peace so sublime! Peace, peace, wonderful peace,
coming down from the Father above. Sleep, oh sleep. We'll stand together as we sing
the hymn of the day in the bulletin. As on the cross of Christ I thought,
it seemed I heard one cry. Is all this nothing in your eyes? Will through this day pass by? Is not such suffering greater
than that which you've seen before? And was there ever any man more
grieved or suffered more? I looked again, and what I saw
I cannot fully tell. It seemed within his very bones
There raged the fire of hell. ? What caused you grief, I ask
the man ? What crimes could you have done ? That God shall overstruck
you down ? And left you all His answer cut my heart like
steel and left me void of breath. Tis for your sins this pain I
feel, for you I go to die. before my father's throne, could
find no place to hide. This is the way God can be just, Jehovah's mercies never fail,
each morning they are new. Great is His faithfulness and
love, therefore we're not consumed. Behold the God in Christ the
Son shall all my poor shall be. My soul shall therefore wait
for Him ? And live eternally ? Be seated. All right, we'll look together
again in Psalm 40. And I'm gonna just deal with
the first five verses today, God willing. Just the first five
verses. And my subject is a salvation
that satisfies. A salvation that satisfies. You know, salvation is of the
Lord. There is no doubt about that. No doubt about that. Look
what He said in verse 5. Many, O LORD my God, are Thy
wonderful works. Thy wonderful works. God works
are absolutely full of wonder. They are, His works, especially
the work of salvation. That s the most wonderful thing
that I ever considered in my life, how that God, God Almighty,
thrice holy, infinite, eternal, measures the waters in the hollow
of His hands and counts the nations as small dust on the balance. that God Almighty could save,
even consider someone like me. Yeah, ain't that what it says?
You know, that's what it said in verse 17 down here, but I
am poor. Where'd we get our poverty from? From our father Adam. We have
absolutely nothing we can pay with. We have no money. We have no worth. We have no
merit. We have no works. We have nothing
that we can bring to God Almighty. We're poor and we're needy. Oh,
how needy we are. When you're poor, you're always
needy. And look what he says, Yet the Lord thinks on me. Yet the Lord thinks on me. And thou art my help and my deliverer,
my salvation, my salvation. when you think about God s works
being wonderful, and it says the works that He has done there
in verse 5, He done it. And you know, it s God which
worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Scriptures
is plain about that. Salvation is of the Lord, no
doubt about it. And it s God who created us,
created us in Christ Jesus unto good works. It has to be a creation,
only God can do that. And here we have in these first
five verses a picture of a sinner, of a sinner, a spirit of a sinner,
a soul passing from death to life, from darkness to light,
and oh my, to the to the joy full of salvation. Oh, what a
blessed thing it is that God would even consider in looking
our direction. And I tell you, the older I get,
and the more I've been preaching all these years, the more I'm
interested in and just stand in utter astonishment, how could
God absolutely be just and then justify me? I never have got
over that view. How does it happen? How in the
world does it happen? How can God provide us salvation
that would actually satisfy us in the condition we re in? And
that s the first thing about this. Look what it says in verse
2, He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the
miry clay. See, we was in a horrible place,
a horrible place, And we was in a horrible, horrible condition. You know, sin is a horrible pit. What an awful pit it is. And
it says here, my reclaim. Now I've been in some mud before
that just jerked the boots right off my feet. I've been in that
kind of mud before, and it just jerks the shoes right off your
feet. And you can't, you got to stand
in the mud, try to pull it back out of there and stick your muddy
foot back in your boot. And that's what he says, we're
in the miry clay. It holds you fast, you can't
lift your feet up. Mire and muck. And this is what
they did to souls. They put them in pits. Now you
keep Psalm 40 and look in Jeremiah chapter 38. I want you to see
something about Jeremiah. You know, this is what they did
to souls. They put Jeremiah in the pit.
They put Joseph in the pit. And that's the way they punish
people. They put them in pits. Put them in pits. And they couldn't
get their feet out of the pit that they was in. And oh, they
put Joseph in a pit, and I tell you what, and God will make you
KNOW you re in a pit, and He ll make you know you can t get
yourself out of that pit. Look what it said here in verse
6, Jeremiah 38 and verse 6, Then they took Jeremiah, and cast
him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hamilech, that was
in the court of prison. And they let down Jeremiah with
cords, and in the dungeon there was no water but mire. So Jeremiah sunk in the mire. When he got down there, his feet
sunk down in that mire, sunk down in that mire. Then look
down in verse 10. Then the king commanded Abedmelech,
the Ethiopian, saying, take from this 30 men, 30 men. with you and take Jeremiah the
prophet out of the dungeon before he die. He ain't gonna live if
you leave him down there. Ain't no water down there, just
nothing but muck and his feet sunk in that muck. So Abedmelech
took men with him and went unto the house of the king under the
treasury and took this, listen to this, old cast clots, old
clots of dirt, and old rotten rags. and left them down by cords
unto Jeremiah. And Abedmelech the Ethiopian
said unto Jeremiah, now put these old cast clots, old dirty clots,
and these rotten rags under your arm holes, under the cords. And Jeremiah did so. And it took,
you know how many men it took to drag him up out of that mire,
out of that muck, out of that stuff his feet slid down in? And so they drew up Jeremiah
with cords and took him out of the dungeon. And Jeremiah remained
in the court of the prison. Do you know how many men it took?
And they used old dirt, old dirt, old cloths. So I tell you what,
that's the position we was in. We ain't got 30 men that can
get us out. You take all you men here today,
as not all of you put together can bring one sinner, one sinner,
one soul out of the miry clay and that pit that we was born
in. That pit we live in, that pit
we will die in if God don't have mercy on us. Ain't that right? And I'll tell you what, when
you know it, it's gonna bring you great distress. And oh, they
put people in pits, and it's a horrible pit. I mean, it's
an awful pit. And I tell you, people, you know,
they make jokes about sin. I have read about a fella this
morning that he just cussed God and was mad at God and called
Him a monster, called Him evil, called Him all kinds of things.
And this fella got upset about it, a preacher did, and I said,
listen, don't answer a fool according to his father. He wants to hate
God, let him! He wants to call God a monster,
let him! He wants to call God evil? Let
Him! That ain't gonna change God! It ain't gonna make Him
any different than He is! That's why Paul said, who art
you, old man? You gonna argue with God? You
gonna debate with God? Find fault with God? You gonna
say, why did you make me like this? And this is the way we
was born. We was born in a horrible pit,
we'll live in a horrible pit, and we'll die in a horrible pit
if God don't bring us up out of it. And I'll tell you what,
all of us together couldn't get one sinner out of a pit, not
one. Huh? We can't even get ourselves
out of it. Oh my. Then what did he do when
he got in this horrible pit? Oh, he brought me up. Look what
it says. He cried to the Lord in verse
one. I waited patiently for the Lord
and he inclined unto me and heard my cry. You know, a soul, I'll
tell you, a soul will not cry out unto the Lord until he knows
he's in trouble. And I mean real trouble, not
imaginary trouble, not the trouble you get in being put in jail,
not the trouble you get in with the law, not the trouble you
get in with your wife or your husband or your children. Now,
that's not the trouble he's talking about. We're talking about soul
trouble. Sin trouble, huh? And I tell you when you know,
you'll cry out for salvation when you know you're in trouble. You're in trouble with God. That's
the first trouble you got, in trouble with God. God will not
by no means clear the guilty. You're in trouble with God's
law. You're in trouble with sin. You're in trouble. And how in
the world are you gonna get out of that trouble? Oh, my. Oh, I tell you, you won't cry
out to God for salvation until you're in trouble. And you know
that's why we cry all the time? Because we feel like we're in
trouble all the time. We got to have Him. This world's
in trouble. Sin is trouble. Politics is trouble. Religion's trouble. We're in
trouble. And oh, he, when you cry, you
get in trouble, you'll cry unto the Lord. And he said, and I
waited. I waited. Now listen to me, I'm telling
you, God's not our errand boy. A lot of people think he is.
All you got to do is say, Lord, I want you and I need you. He
jumps too. That's not the way God works.
He's not our errand boy. A lot of folks think to you,
as you see these things all the time, if you want good luck for
the whole year, say amen. If you don't have no trouble
in 2023, say amen. If you're happy in Jesus, clap
your hands. People think he's their errand
boy. He's got a job too. We ask him for something, he's
supposed to immediately come to our rescue. He's supposed
to immediately come and do something for us. Oh my. Well, Daniel was in the lion's
den. Shadrach, Meshach was in the
fiery furnace. Jeremiah was in the dungeon our
Lord was on a cross and They all cried unto the Lord But they
had to wait They had to wait and That's what
you'll do you'll wait You won't say God. Why ain't you coming?
Why ain't you here? Why ain't you doing something?
No God doesn't jump when we say He ought to. Oh my. And I tell you, that really,
really bothers me that people think God's an errand boy. All
you got to do, you put Him on the spot. You put God on the
spot. You can't put God who inhabits
eternity on the spot. What spot you gonna put Him on?
What predicament you gonna put Him in? Well, you gonna put him
in some situation he gonna have to do something? No, no, no. He does all things after the
counsel of his own will. And I tell you, he don't wait
on us, we wait on him. And look what he says here then.
Not only did he cry unto the Lord and I waited, then look
what it said, he inclined unto me. You know, Our little old
babies, when they go to talking growing up and all, we're inclined
to them. We'll get down and listen to
what they got to say. You know, we just sit and listen
to what they just mumble around and goo around and all that.
We'll climb their ear. And when the folks on their deathbed,
you get down to listen to what they got to say and their voice
gets so weak and so frail. You want to hear their last words.
Well, that's what God does for us. We're so feeble, we're so
frail, we're so weak in ourselves and our cries that God has to
bend down to hear what we've got to say. Now that's the kind
of God that when you wait on Him, He'll get down there and
listen to what you've got to say. He'll get down there and
hear what you've got to say. He inclined unto me. Has He ever
inclined unto you? And then look what else it said.
He heard my cry. He heard my cry. When he heard my cry, that means,
beloved, you was earnest about it. And that word cry also means
tears streaming down the face, and it also means crying out,
crying out with the boys. Oh, Lord. Well, I tell you, Todd
was talking about, he was preaching a message the other day about
the sinner's prayer, sinners praying. I said, you know, I
said, that's the only people that do pray are sinners, and
they don't have to be taught to pray. That fella in that pit
didn't have to be taught to pray. Could you just imagine some soul
went over there, hey, listen, listen down there. Repeat after
me, repeat after me, and we'll get up out of there. You can
get out of there. Oh, can you imagine that? Oh,
no, no, no. He didn't need to be taught.
Only sinners pray, and he cried out. It's like that Syro-Phoenician
woman that brought her daughter to the Lord and said, oh, Lord,
my daughter, have mercy on me. My daughter is in great need. Oh, I'm in need for my daughter.
And the Lord ignored her, never said a word to her. But you think
she quit? She waited. She kept waiting.
And she said, Lord, I need help. He said, it's not right for me
to take the children's bread and give them unto dogs. You know why she cried out? Lord, yes. Yes, yes, yes. That's absolutely true. But even
the dogs get the crumbs from the Master s table. And you know
what? The Lord said He had mercy on
her. It s like Bartimaeus sat by the
roadside begging his blind and he sat there and he heard a big
commotion. They said, Who s coming? They
said, Jesus of Nazareth. Oh, he said, I've heard that
man can do things for you. I heard that man, and the scripture
said he cried out. Oh, Jesus! Son of David! And they said, went over there
and told him, said, be quiet, be quiet. And you know what,
the scripture said he cried the more. He cried the more. He said, O thou Son of David,
have mercy on me. And you know what the Lord Jesus
Christ said? He stood still. And listen to
this. He commanded him, didn't beg
him, didn't plead with him, never told him he had a free will or
this is his chance or this is his opportunity. He commanded
him to be brought to him. And that's the way we get to
Christ. We cry and he hears us. Oh my, he cried the more. Then
look what it says here. Not only did he, we was in the
horrible pit and then he cried unto the Lord. Look what else
happened now. In verse two, we're saved when
we start crying. Look what it says now. He brought
me up. He brought me up. Oh, bless his name. He brought
me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the mirey clay. He
brought me up. He did it. Oh, he did it. Oh, my. Listen, the average preacher
today said, listen, here's your ladder. Here's your ladder. Now listen, climb up out of there. Climb up out of there. Oh no. He didn't throw him a rock
down and said, now listen, I'll hold it and you can pull yourself
up out of there. No, no. It said he brought, he brought
me up. Is that what God did for you?
Did God do the saving? Did you help Him? Did He need
any help? Did He need your help? Did He
need your strength? Did He need anything from you?
Oh my, He brought me up! He brought me up! Salvation's
of the Lord! Salvation's of the Lord in His
purpose! Salvation's of the Lord in His
execution! Salvation's of the Lord in His
application! I mean, God's got to do it all
from start to finish. You know, the only thing... Jonathan Edwards says this, the
only contribution we made to our salvation was our sin. The only thing we had to contribute
was our own sin. And God saved us from that awful
sin, huh? And I'm so thankful. And listen, God, He said, my arm's not short, neither is my, my arm's not weak,
neither is my hand short that I cannot reach to get you. Oh
my, He gotta bring you up. And here's the thing, That's
why, you know, we gotta keep preaching salvations of the Lord.
Because I tell you what, a man can't save himself. There's too
many people trying to save themselves. That's why it's just a sad, sad
thing how many people trying to, you know, Paul said his own
brethren went about to establish their own righteousness. How
do you establish your own righteousness? You're like the rich young ruler
that came to the master and said, oh, good master, what good thing
must I do to be saved? Our Lord said, well, keep the
commandments. And you know what he said? I've
done all this from the time I was a little boy. The Lord gave him one thing to
do. You know what he said? And this man was rich, rich,
rich. He said, take everything you
got, give every bit of it away, and then you come follow me.
As long as you got something you can look to, as long as you
got something you can trust in, as long as you got something
you can believe in. And that's what that fellow was. He went
away so sorrowful because he said, I can't do that. I can't
give this up. I can give up a lot of things,
but I can't give this up. And that's what people do, they
say, I can give up this and I can give up that, but I ain't gonna
give me up. Well, you're the only one that,
listen, if you, no, you won't even give yourself, he's got
to bring you up out of a horrible pit. Our Lord Jesus himself says,
no man can come unto me, except the Father which sent me draw
him. And as it is written in the prophets, they shall all
be taught of God. God taught this man down in this
horrible pit, and he cried. And when he cried unto the Lord,
the Lord come to him and brought him up. Brought him up. Brought him up. Oh, blessed is
the man whom thou choosest. And listen to this, causes, causes,
causes, Him to approach unto you. And then look what else he did,
not only did he save him, not only was he in a horrible pit,
not only did he cry unto the Lord, but look what else he did. Then after he saved him, he established
him. He said in verse 2, he said, He brought me out of the horrible
pit, out of the miry clay, set my feet on a rock, and established
my goings. My it's one thing to be brought
up out of the horrible pit But all you know, you still got all
that mud and stuff on you. How you gonna get cleansed from
that? He brings you up and then he
look at what it says here and And set he done the setting set
my feet upon a rock and established my going Oh my, He not only brought
us up, but He brought us out. Not only brought us up and brought
us out, but He took our feet, not a foot, feet. That feet means
where you walk. It means feet means where you
step. That feet means what you do.
And look what He said, He established our feet and set them on a rock. Oh my, what were you reckon that
rock was? Reckon who that rock is. Christ is that rock. He's the
rock of our salvation. No more pit, no more miry clay,
no, no. And I tell you what, he set us
on a solid rock. We sang that song, on Christ
the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. Set on
the solid rock of God's grace in Christ. I love the sovereign
truth, and this is a sovereign truth that never changes. There's
only one place that God will let a man stand, and that's stand
in Christ, and standing on that rock. Oh my. And then, oh my, people say,
well what if they go back? Go back, back in that pit? Go
back in the pit? Huh? Go back in the pit? Go back in that mire of clay?
Oh my goodness. No, no, look what it says. He
establishes. He establishes. Now when God establishes, what
do you reckon's gonna happen? You know what our Lord said?
He said, my sheep hear my voice, and I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish. For no man's able to pluck them
out of my hand. And the Father which gave me
them is greater than all, and no man's able to pluck them out
of my Father's hand. So anybody that goes back, that
means they didn't have nothing. They wasn't brought from, if
you can go back, you wasn't brought from nowhere. If you was ever
in a horrible pit, you won't get back in that pit. If you
was brought out of the hog pen, you ain't gonna go back in that
hog pen. Oh my. He established our going. Oh, going back, going back, he
established my goings. Oh my, you know what that establish
your goings means? It means you're not double-minded. Not double-minded. I heard a
fellow say one time, said, you know, both things are true, man's
free will and God's sovereignty. They both can't be true. They
can't be true. They both can't be, God's sovereignty
and man's free will. They both can't be true. How could they both be true?
If God is sovereign, why would He wait on man?s free will? Why
would He be impressed with man?s free will? Why would He want
man?s free will involved in ANYTHING when the Scripture tells us when
Jonah was in the belly of hell, the Scripture said he cried out,
?Salvations of the Lord!? And you know what happened to Jonah
when he said that? That whale went up and spit him out on dry
ground. He didn't spit him out and say,
now walk the rest of the way. I know the water's about to chase
me, but I believe you can make it from here. No, no, he spit
him on solid ground. And that's what Christ does for
us. He puts us on a solid rock. Huh? There's two things I don't
want. I don't want my will or my way.
Do you? Oh, I want God's will. Oh, my. And I tell you what, not double-minded. That means, you know, that I'm
for Christ one day, and then I'm for the world the next day.
I'm for this and that and the other, and I can, you know, I'm
for that and this and that, and they just back and forth. Oh,
listen, God's people's not double-minded. They're not double-hearted either.
And they're not in and they're not out. They're in for a while
and then out for a while, and in for a while and out for a
while. I tell you, how long would your marriage last if your husband
or wife done that? But people, you know, people
treat God that way, but they wouldn't treat their husband
or their wife that way. You know how long your marriage would
last if your husband went out, stayed out a while, and then
come back, in, out, in, out, or wife done that? Be over and
done with. If you go in and out, in and
out, in and out, I'll tell you something, you never was in.
You've always been out. And you can't get in unless God
brings you in. And once you get in, people say,
oh boy, I know what that fella say, but I know he loves the
Lord, he just don't live for him. That's awful, that's the
despicable thing. Huh? Oh my. Look what it said down here in
verse 16, Psalm 40. Let all those that seek thee
rejoice and be glad in thee, such as love thy salvation, say
continually, the Lord be magnified. Huh? Oh, we're not working our
way to the Lord. Our goings before was all wrong. Now God established our goings,
and they're now right. It's like that Gadarean maniac.
When Christ set him free and went to that graveyard and caught
him and clothed him in his right mind, you know what he said at
Jesus' feet? And when the Lord Jesus got up
and walked away, you know what that said about that Gadarean
maniac? He followed him in the way. He established our goings, and
what's our goings? Whichever way he's going, that's
the way I'm going. Where he leads me, I'll follow. Ain't that right? And then look what else he said
here. I got to hurry. Look what else he said here. After he established our goings,
then look what he said. He put a new song in my mouth. Not only brought us up, not only
brought us out, not only established our feet, set our feet and established
our goals, then He gave us a song to sing. Watch the song that
we sang, look what it says there. Even praise unto our God. To God be the glory, great things
He hath done. He put a new song in our mouth.
A new life gives you a new song, huh? A life of faith brings a
new tune, huh? And you know what that tune is?
The first note is, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto
thy name give glory. All the glory be to God. And
that's the thing about it. The salvation of the Lord and
the gospel of the free grace of God in Christ gives God all
the glory. Man can take no glory to himself
whatsoever. He can't do it. And oh, a new
life brings a new song. And I tell you, and it's a song
of praise. And it's a song, we sung that
this morning. All hail the power of Jesus'
name. Let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadem
and crown Him, crown Him, Lord of all. Oh my. It's a song of praise to the
Lamb. He's the one that's worthy. He was the one that was slain.
He's the one that redeemed us under God by His blood. And He
only puts this song in the mouth of those whose feet He set on
a rock. He told Simon Peter, upon this
rock I'll build my church, and the gates of hell ain't gonna
prevail against it. And let me give you this, and
I'll be done. The quest said in verse 13, then God uses a
man after he saves him, brings him out of that horrible pit.
And in verse three, it said, many shall see it and fear and
shall trust in the Lord. Oh my, many shall see it, fear
and shall trust in the Lord. People see that God done something
for you. God did something for you. It's
obvious that the Lord did it and you praise him. And then
you have this fear of God, this trust of the Lord, makes you
fruitful, happy, joyful, consistent in the testimony of salvation. And then look, here's the satisfaction
of it, being satisfied with it, verse four and five. Blessed
is the man that maketh the Lord his trust. He don't respect the
proud. And he don't love those, he's
not interested in them, he turns aside the lies. And then, oh
my, look at this. He makes the Lord his trust.
And then he said, oh Lord, my God, thy wonderful works which
you've done. When you start talking about
the wonderful works of God, where you gonna start? Where would
you start? And look what he says. And my thoughts which are to
us weren't. These works are for us. These
works are done for us. And then the thoughts that you
have to us. And listen to this. How do you tell the Lord's done?
He has thoughts of us. He does many works for us. You
know how many works he does for us in a day? We have no idea. how He protects us, how He preserves
us, how He shields us, how He does Job put a circle around
us. And then look what else He says. They cannot be reckoned up in
order. Who are you gonna start? All the things that God's done
for you in your lifetime, who are you gonna start? Where you
gonna start? There's so many of them. There's
so many things that you can, and he said, David said here,
he said, you can't number them. And if I was to tell about it
and speak of them, I can't number them. They're more than I can
be numbered. Oh, I don't know where to start. And I know this,
that man, that soul that has the Lord, whom he trusts, He's
a man that's satisfied. He's satisfied with everything
God done, all the works that God done in his life, in his
soul, in his home, everything about him. Ain't that right?
Oh, our blessed Savior, thank you
for your word. Oh, what a blessed word. What
a gospel we have. Oh, what a gospel, what a blessed
gospel we have. Lord, bless it to our hearts,
bless it to our understanding. And oh, Holy Spirit, use it,
use it as you will. You're the Lord. You're the one
that has to open a heart. You're the one that has to bring
them out of a horrible pit. You're the one that has to do
the work. You're the one that has to do the saving. So Lord,
we leave this message in your hands to do with it what seemeth
good in your sight. We bless you and praise you in
Christ's name. Amen. 272 in the hymn book. We'll stand and sing this and
then you'll be at liberty to go. 272. Everybody knows this, and you ought to know this in the
heart. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not God holy, laid on Jesus' name
On Christ the solid rock I stand All other ground is sinking sand When darkness fails His lovely
face I rest up in His unchanging grace In every high and stormy
gale My anchor holds within the veil I love this one. His oath, His
covenant, His blood support me in the whelming flood. my soul gives way. He then is all my hope and stay. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. He shall come with trumpet sounding,
And in Him be found dressed, In His righteousness alone, For
less to stand before His throne.
About Don Bell
Don Bell is the current pastor of Lantana Grace Church in Crossville, TN.
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