I consider this such an honor. I was just thinking, Brother
Frank, standing up. When I think of Ashland, Kentucky, this is the thought I have. Ashland,
Kentucky. There's an oasis. It's been like this a long time. Like Katy, Katy, West Virginia. If you've never been to Katy,
West Virginia, it's about as big as this building. But the
Lord pleased to raise up the church there. Sent a faithful,
faithful preacher. 60 years ago. The miracle of God's grace is that
he let me go there. I'm glad to be here, glad to
be with you. I thank God for you. Lift up
this assembly every day as to God's blessings on your pastor. Take your Bibles and turn with
me to Psalm 111. Psalm 111. I'm actually going
to look at one, one verse, but I'm going to start at verse nine,
but I'm going to, I'm going to look at verse one too. So I guess
that makes it two, two verses. Verse one starts off and says, Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. Capital L, capital O, capital
R, capital D. Jehovah. All ye saints. Hallelujah. That's what that
means. the Lord. Four times in the scriptures. Hold your place right there and
turn to Revelation 19. Four times in the scriptures.
Hallelujah. Actually the word hallelujah. Revelation 19 verses 1 to 6 is actually used. Hallelujah. That's a word we hear You think
hallelujah would be all through the scriptures. Four times, and
it's all within six verses. Look, Revelation 19, one after
these things, I heard a great voice of much people in heaven
saying. Alleluia, which is actually hallelujah. Salvation and glory and honor
and power unto the Lord our God, for true and righteous are his
judgments. For he hath judged the great
whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, hath avenged
the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said,
Alleluia. And her smoke rose up forever
and ever. Four and twenty elders and the
four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne saying,
Amen, Alleluia. And a voice came out of the throne
saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants and ye that fear
him, both small and great. And I heard, as it were, the
voice of a great multitude and as the voice of many waters,
and as the voice of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth. All the places where, Alleluia,
this is what praise the Lord means. Alleluia, praise Jehovah,
L-O-R-D, all caps. Praise the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit. Praise to Him who chose to have
mercy and compassion to whomsoever He will. We're here this evening and we
believe that. We believe that Almighty God
chose. Not because of anything that
was good in us. I know that. I know that. Praise
the Lord that you're here and I'm here. Praise the Lord for
that. Left to ourselves. What would
we have done? No telling, Mike. Praise the Son
who laid down His life for His people, His sheep, His
saints. Hallelujah to the Holy Spirit. As the wind, just as the sun,
according to God's everlasting covenant of grace, moves upon
God's people, hearing of the gospel. He blesses that gospel
to their heart, gives them a new mind, new heart, new understanding,
new love. Seals them to the day of redemption. Teaches us. Right now. Takes God's word and He brings
it to our heart. You know, we think, I can remember
that. I've heard that before. I, you
know, by faith, I believe that. You know, faith cometh. Cometh, cometh by hearing. I breathed yesterday. You know,
that air is gone. I need a breath right now. Faith
cometh. The Spirit of God takes it and
blesses it. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. The psalmist said, praise you
the Lord. But then he said, I will praise
the Lord. Because he's given me a new heart. I know this. I know there's some
people in this world that he's shown mercy. Compassion. He said he would. I will. I will have compassion. And that's
a miracle of God's grace, but it's a miracle of God's grace
to me that he would show me, give me a heart. I will praise
the Lord. I'll praise the Lord with my
whole heart, earnest heart, heart of affection in my soul. He's given me a desire. I want
to, I want. But I have, I think I have enough
sense to realize why I want to. He made me willing. He gave me. I will praise the Lord with my
whole heart. And the psalmist says, in the
assembly of the upright, in the congregation. I look those words
up. You know, we always think we
understand just exactly whatever word means, but we would do well,
look them up. In the assembly of the upright,
here's what it means. Circle of familiar friends. Circle
of familiar friends. We, uh, Fr. Frank would say we
were talking, sat down, got up there, we were just talking about
the things of the Lord, about the mercy of God. And it just
bore witness to my heart, this is comfortable. I just enjoy being able to. And the amazing thing is that
a believer talks like a believer. He wasn't trying to be religious.
He wasn't You know, you pick up on that real fast. But God's people speak of the
things of the Lord. Praise the Lord, I will praise
the Lord with my whole heart in the assembly of the upright
and in the congregation. That word means the gathering.
I'll tell you what, we just kind of bounced each other you know,
off each other and just sat in the other. But I'm going to tell
you something. There's an amazing thing that's
happening right now. Where two or three are gathered
together in my name, I am in the midst of you. Praise the
Lord. The Lord's here. The Lord has
been pleased. and to bless, and just the very
thought of that rejoices my heart. The Lord is here. When Psalmist said, I will praise
the Lord with my whole heart, I truly want to do that. I want to do that. I want to
bless and praise Him with a heart of faithfulness.
And I know I told Frank this afternoon. You know the scripture
says that which is born of God. Sin is not. That that which is
flesh flesh that which is born of the spirit that spirit and
that which is born of the spirit sineth not. Now I know by faith
that that's so I know that. But do you know, I can't see
one thing that I've ever done that was truly faithful. But the scripture says, I will
praise the Lord with a sincere heart. What I see is, next to
sin, doubt, fear, trials and tribulations. But
I do, I do want to. I want to do that. I pray to
the Lord, give me that heart of understanding. We praise and
bless the Lord, give honor to His glorious name as we come
together and preach the gospel. Last thing, the Lord told His
disciples before He ascended into heaven, going to all the
world to preach the gospel, I don't know who the Lord's sheep
are, but I know this, he's gonna call his sheep out through the
preaching of the gospel, blessed son. I know that, praise the
Lord for that. We know the subject, don't we?
We're gonna look at a passage of scripture, and we know what
that scripture, we know who that scripture speaks of, speaks of
hymns. We bless the Lord. We absolutely
set forth doing that which the Lord has caused us to do. And
I do. I will praise ye the Lord and
I'll praise the Lord. I want to be an example. I want
to be an example of faithfulness. Embarrassed what I see myself
doing, see myself thinking, but I do want to be an example. And
you know that Wanting to be an example? I didn't come up with
that. I didn't come up with that thought.
That's scripture. Listen to what the Apostle Paul
said to Timothy. 1 Timothy 4.12. Let no man despise
thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers in word, in
conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
Be a pattern. That's what he said. Be a pattern.
Be a type. Walk. with consistency. I want that. Praise ye the Lord. I will praise the Lord with my
whole heart. Now I know, I know that we've
come together tonight. Truly, we've come together tonight.
Not just because it was the night, well, you know, it's Thursday
night and this was the night that we've, you know, Marvin
could be here tonight, so we just, tonight, no, You know why
God's people came tonight? Because they want to hear of
Him. Tell me one more time. Tell me one more time how the
Lord put away my guilt. Tell me one more time what He
has done for me. I've been looking at the that
scripture, that demoniac of Gadarenes, of Gadara. You remember after
the Lord commanded Legion to come out of that man and that
demon asked him, can we go into these swine over here? And the
Lord gave him leave to go. And he converted that man. Gave him a new heart. People in the town, remember,
they came out to see and they saw the man and he was clothed,
he was sitting in his right mind. This is what he wanted to do.
Lord, I want to go with you. And the Lord said, no. I want
you to go back to your friends. You tell them what great things
the Lord's done for you. Has had compassion on you. I
thought about, I read that, Frank, I thought, I'm gonna have mercy
and compassion. And the Lord told him, he said,
I have compassion on you. And he went, and he began to
publish, publish. Looked it up again, found out.
You know what he was doing? He was preaching. He went back
and started preaching in Decapolis, in that country of Decapolis.
God called that man, delivered him from the bondage of those
demons, from the bondage of sin, gave him a new heart, a desire,
and sent him. I just wondered, as they were
sitting there together before those folks came from the city,
I wonder about the conversation that he had with the Lord. Can
you imagine what he heard? Like those two on the road to
Emmaus. He said, didn't our heart just
burn? as He opened them to us, the Scriptures. Well, I began
to think in that line of thinking, and I thought to myself, knowing
what those back in Revelation 19 we just looked at, hallelujah,
you're just, you're true, you've judged the great whole, you're
right, you're right. The Lord is just. See, I'm a saint. Now here's
a question for me. For me to have a heart in crying
unto Him, praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise ye the
Lord. I'll praise the Lord. Here's
my question. Is there any hope for me? I know,
I know that the Lord is a just God. Job asked this question,
how Should man be just? It says with God is before. Look in your margin. How should
man be just before God? Do I have a hope? Crying forth for His mercy and
grace to me. Crying unto Him. Hallelujah.
What is the ground? What's the foundation? of a sinner's
hope. Here it is, verse 9. That's where
I'm going to be, right here. He sent redemption unto His people. He hath commanded His covenant
forever, holy and reverend is His name. Now, He sent redemption unto His people. I know, I know that's a fact. I know it's a fact. Let me tell
you what the scripture doesn't say. It doesn't say that He sent
the Redeemer, though He did. He did! But do you know, everybody,
just about anybody, ask anybody, do you believe that the Lord
Jesus Christ is the redeemer. I believe that. I believe that. Everybody believes that. But
listen to what the scripture says. He sent redemption unto
his people. Now let me ask you this. Do you
hear God's sovereign grace in that? He sent redemption. He didn't make it possible He
sent redemption. God Almighty sent redemption. And for whom did He send redemption? For whom? For His people. To the sheep, to the elect. Look
at John 17, John 17 2. Here you know this, the Lord's
high priestly prayer. Listen to him pray. I'll read
1 and 2. These words spake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son that thy son
also may glorify thee. As thou hast given him power,
over all flesh that he should, that he should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him. Let me ask you this, for
whom did he pray? He said, I pray not for the world. I pray for those that you've
given me out of the world. He has sent redemption. Call his name Jesus. He shall save his people from their sins. When the Lord
sent Moses into Egypt, who did he go for? Look at Exodus 3,
9 and 10. Exodus 3, 9 and 10. Now therefore behold, the cry
of the children of Israel is coming to me. So did the Lord
hear. And I have also seen the oppression
wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore and I will
send thee unto Pharaoh that thou mayest bring forth my people. the children of Israel out of
Egypt. Hallelujah. He sent redemption
unto His people. Came into this world made of a woman, made under the
law, made sin. He hath made Him who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. Sent redemption. And this He did according to
a covenant. A covenant of grace. This is
what He said. He sent redemption unto His people. He hath commanded His covenant
forever. He hath appointed He hath ordained covenant grace according to His
promise, His word, God Almighty, who cannot lie. It's ordered in all things. He sent redemption unto His people,
commanded, constituted, appointed that covenant forever. You know,
God's people delight in the covenant of God's grace. This is sure. I know this. The Lord's gonna
call his people out. I know that. How do you know
that? Well, because he said he was.
All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me. Him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Not gonna do it. God's
people rejoice in that covenant. It's everlasting. This is an
everlasting covenant. Look at Proverbs. You've read
this before. It's good. Paul says, you know, not grievous. He'll say the same
things unto you. He said, for you it's safe. I'll
tell you this, it's safe. for us to consider these things
again. Listen to them. The everlastingness of His covenant. The One who is our redemption. The Redeemer Himself sent into
this world. Look at Proverbs chapter 8 starting
in verse 23. Here's the everlastingness of
this covenant. I was set up from everlasting. From beginning, wherever the
earth was, when there were no depths, I was brought forth.
When there were no fountains abounding with water, before
the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth.
While as yet, he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor
the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared
the heavens, I was there. When he set a compass upon the
face of the depth, when he established the clouds above, when he strengthened
the fountains of the deep, when he gave to the sea his decree
that the water should not pass his commandment, when he appointed
the foundations of the earth, then I was by him as one brought
up with him, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always
before him. And here's the wonder of this
everlasting covenant, rejoicing in one. rejoicing in the habitable
part of his earth, and my delights were with the sons of men." He told Jeremiah, he said, before
I formed you, my brother, I met you. I've always loved you. I've loved
you with an everlasting love, betrothed myself to you. before there was anything but
God, there was redemption. I can't even think of eternal. I can think back when I was young. I told my mom and daddy one time,
there was something I remembered when I was, I mean, I can see
it right now in my mind. My dad's sitting right here,
there's a chair right here, and there's a set of stairs right
here. And there's some windows right
over here. I can still see it. And I told my dad, I described
it to him. He said, you can't remember that.
I said, yes, I can. He said, no, you can't. You were
only a few months old. I said, well, how do I remember
it then? That's the only thing I can remember about that house.
But I can remember that. Now that's how far I can go back.
I don't even know how to think eternally. But this Word right
here says that before there was anything created, before there
was God, He said, My delights are with the sons of men. I think
to myself, praise the Lord. Hallelujah. God's people rejoice
in the immutability of that covenant. It's everlasting, yes. But according
to His Word, This is the only way I know it, or you know it.
God doesn't change. He said, I am the Lord. And I
change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob. Oh, Jacob was the one the Lord
loved. Jacob have I loved. Esau have
I hated. You sons of Jacob. You that are the objects of my mercy. You that I've been pleased to
wrestle with. You that I have told you, let
me go. I gave you the heart to say. Not unless you bless me, I just
can't. Who do you think was holding
on to who? Almighty God doesn't change. He said, I've always loved you. God, who doesn't change, I can
tell you the next thing. He'll always love me. In spite
of what I see in me, in that covenant, he said, he commanded
His covenant forever. And the people of God rejoice
in the fullness of His covenant. Scripture says, Colossians 2.9,
For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. All the fullness of the Godhead. all the fullness of the Father,
the Son, and the Spirit in our husband and the one that
loves us and our surety and our refuge. If I be chosen in him, then the
scripture sets forth that I'm chosen in God. If He's my surety, then God Almighty
is my surety. I think of these words, Genesis,
I'll just read this to you, Genesis 15, what did the Lord say to
Abraham? After these things, the word
of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision. I read those words
and I think to myself, what a blessing. God would speak Speak to a man. You know what? He does it right
now. I know He does. The Lord said,
My sheep hear My voice. And I know them. And they follow
Me. And you hear the Gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and your heart rejoices. When you hear Him,
and He's honored. He's exalted. You hear these
words and say, you know, who's getting in here? I hear that. And I rejoice in that. And I
think I can, I think I can almost enter in to what those two on
the road to Emmaus said. Didn't our heart burn within
us as he just opened the scripture? You think I've heard this before
and I've heard this before. It just, it's so good to hear
it again. After these things, the word
of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram,
for I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. Oh, the fullness of his covenant.
It doesn't change. It's everlasting. It's full. And one of these days,
by the grace of God, we're going to stand there. You don't know
it then. Right now we see through a glass
darkly and we all admit it. You think there's things that
I hear and I see and I just see in part and I know in part. But
how about the graciousness of this covenant? This is not a covenant of works,
keeping the law. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified. The amazing thing is to actually
read in the scriptures. Some that the Lord called out
of darkness and gave them understanding that they could not keep the
law, but at one time thought they could. Saul of Tarsus, what
did Paul say concerning what he used to think? Go back to
Philippians, you know what it says. So he says concerning the
law, He said, I was blameless. God's people know all the mercy
of God's grace in this covenant. I know this. He had saved me. He had to do something for me
that I could not do for myself. He had to rescue me. Rescue me
from myself. Rescue me from sin. Rescue me
from bondage. I need redemption. I need redemption. And don't
leave it to me. I know that. He is a man. The Word made flesh. Came into this world. and in
absolute obedience before his father. As a man, he obeyed God. Never in one point offended,
because the father said he did, as my beloved son, whom I'm well
pleased, you hear him. He earned righteousness. And that righteousness, the faith
of Jesus Christ, His obedience, charged to my account, robed
in that righteousness. I know what the scripture says
my righteousness is. This filthy rag. You know what
that is. Not this. Listen, listen to Micah 718. Who is a God like unto thee that
pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant
of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever
because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again. He will have
compassion upon us. We will subdue, no, he will subdue
our iniquities Now we'll cast all their sins into the depths
of the sea. Who's a God like our God? Our God's not the one that's
wanting us to do whatever we can to help him or he'll help
us if we'll help ourselves. Who is a God like unto thee that
continually pardons, that pardoneth? Pardoneth. You know what ETH
on the end of those words mean. He pardoneth, faith cometh, he
that believeth continually, that pardons continually passing by
the transgression of his people and ever delights to show mercy. I get just wore out with people
that don't do what I want them to do. And I remember when my kids were
growing up, Gabe was the worst. Whipping him every day. Every
day. And I think to myself, why don't
you listen? Who is a god like unto thee? Having spewed out his wrath and
his justice, on our redemption. Blessed Son, Almighty God, pardon
the iniquity. Pass it by the transgression
of the remnant of His heritage. And the scripture says, He will
have compassion, subdue our iniquities. They're not even going to have
dominion over you. Oh, the presence of Him there. Sins shall not have dominion
over you. And the scripture says, thou will cast all their sins
into the depths of the sea of his precious blood. He told Moses, said, you tell
the people. He said, you kill a lamb with
the blood of the lamb. The psalm will come to them.
When I see the blood, I'm gonna pass over you. You've heard this
before. Not their faith, but their faith.
When I see the blood, because of the blood, he passes by the transgression of
the remnant of his heritage. Hallelujah. Holy and reverent is His name. Sacred and terrible, what that's
interpreted. You know that doesn't mean bad,
it means reverential. Unspeakably reverential. His position, His authority,
His character, His essence, holy, holy. It just, you know, I hesitate
to say this, but I'm going to say it, but people that put that
reverend in front of their name, oh, how disrespectful, how irreverent. I want to think upon one, and
I know, oh, I know that I don't. The will is present with me,
how to accomplish that which I would, I might not. But I want
to. I want to have a heart of respect,
holy. That first line, I'm not going
to preach out of verse 10, but that first line in verse 10,
the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The respect of the
Lord is the chief part. It's the heart of wisdom. Almighty God has been pleased
to send redemption unto His people. He did it according to a covenant,
a covenant of grace. This is what God's people said. Brother Marvin told me today
his text. I got very excited. I love that.
I love that verse. It's so good. Such a blessing.
I don't want to re-preach a man's message, but this is what I thought
of when he told me this was his text. I thought of the Civil
War. During the Civil War, and it
may have just been a political move, I don't know, but President
Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. You know how many
people read that and said, you know, I'm going to let these
slaves go because the president said so? Not one. So what did the president do? He sent freedom. He won the victory
and he sent freedom. Those slaves went free. God has an eternal covenant of
grace. He proclaimed Those people are
mine. They're going to go free. They're
going to come to me. You know how many of them came to Him
willingly? Not one. So He sent redemption. He sent the Redeemer to accomplish
it. He won the victory. And He sent redemption into the
hearts of His people. This is what we are preaching
in the gospel. Oh, that's such a blessing. Let's bow in prayer. Father, It is with hearts that are humbled
and full of thanksgiving that we bow before you and say thanksgiving. How we thank you for our Lord
Jesus Christ. How we thank you that you did
not leave the salvation of your people up to chance or to our
will or to our decision, but that you have sent redemption
to the hearts of your people. Father, we pray that you bless
your word. as it's been preached. Father, we pray you'd use this
message to send life to one of your people, to send redemption
into their hearts this very evening, giving them faith in our Lord
Jesus Christ. Father, we thank you for Brother
Marvin. Pray your continued blessing be upon him and the ministry
there of Katie. You give him traveling mercies
to travel to Lexington and preach this weekend and to travel back
home. Father, we thank you for your
abundant mercy to us. It's in the precious name of
our Lord Jesus Christ we pray again.