Let's begin here in 2 Samuel
7 at verse 18. Then, that's important, then,
went King David in, and sat before the Lord, and he said, Whom am
I, O Lord God? Can you not just picture this
same David, king of Israel, conquered all of his enemies, ruler of
a great kingdom. He sits in the presence of the
king of kings as a little child. Just sits down. He melts. He
melts. That's not uncommon. I would
dare say that is common for a child of God. And David said, who am
I? Oh, Lord God. And what is my
house that thou hath brought me hither to? And this was yet
a small thing in thy sight, O Lord God. But thou hast spoken also
of thy servant's house for a great while to come. And is this the
manner of man, O Lord God? Not hardly. Man doesn't do that.
And what can David say more unto thee? For thou, Lord God, knowest
thy servant. For thy words say. And according
to thine own heart hast thou done all these great things to
make thy servant know them." That sounds familiar, doesn't
it? To make thy servant know them.
Oh, Simon Bar-Jonah, son of Jonah, you're a blessed man. My father's
done something for you that he's not done for everyone. He's revealed
to you who I am. You are a blessed man. You know
these things. Verse 22. Wherefore, thou art
great, O Lord God, for there is none like thee, neither is
there any god beside thee, according to all that we have heard with
our ears. And what one nation in the earth
is like thy people, even like Israel? Now remember, Israel
is typical of God's true Israel, His Church, His Redeemer, His
Chosen. Israel, whom God went to redeem
for a people to Himself, and to make Him a name, and to do
for you great things and terrible, awesome things. For thy land
before thy people, which thou redeemedest to thee from Egypt,
from the nations and their gods, little Jews. For thou hast confirmed
to thyself that thy people Israel to be a people unto thee forever.
And thou, Lord, art become their God. And now, O Lord God, the
word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his
house, establish it forever, and do as thou hast said. Do as thou hast said. And he will. He always has. He always will. No question about
that. No question about that. Do as
thou hast said. And let thy name be magnified
forever, saying, The Lord of hosts is the God of Israel. And
let the house of thy servant David be established before thee. For thou, O Lord of hosts, God
of Israel, hast revealed to thy servants, saying, I will build
thee a house. Therefore, therefore, Had thy
servant founded in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee.
True prayer begins in heaven. True prayer doesn't begin down
here with us. It begins with God. This is what
Paul said in Romans 8, didn't he? The spirit knows the mind
of Christ, and he makes intercession for us according to the will
of God. Verse 28. And now, O Lord God,
thou art that God and thy words be true, and thou hast promised
this goodness unto thy servant. Therefore, now let it please
thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue
forever before thee, for thou, O Lord, hast spoken it. And with
thy blessing, let the house of thy servant be blessed forever."
Forever. The title of my message to you
today is this. And it shouldn't be a surprise.
I don't think it is. The wonder of God's grace. The wonder of God's grace. You consider, as David did here
in God's presence, something about the greatness of God. The greatness of God. The majesty
of God. Every attribute of God. Justice, power, wisdom, grace. Every attribute. deserves the
praise of his servants. Considering who God is, oh, even
from that vantage point, what a wonder grace is. And then consider
those on whom God bestows his grace. That's another wonder,
isn't it? Who made you to differ from another? Oh, God, help Larry Criss not
to forget that, because I tend to do it. That's just so, that's
just a fact. I mean, if there's one thing
in this world, in this life, in my experience, that I should
not take for granted, it should be the mercy and the grace of
God. If there's any one thing that
should never stop being a matter of wonder to my soul, it should
be God had mercy on me. He didn't have to do that. Mercy
is not something that I deserve. Oh, no, on the contrary. God
didn't have to have mercy on me. He could have, in justice,
left me alone, and He'd have done me no wrong. It would have
been right for Him to do so. Oh, what a wonder that is. Look
again, if you will, back in the chapter here, 2 Samuel 7, at
verses 12 and 13. This is a most gracious message
from God to his servant, both in leading him, as we read, to
recall God's past mercies, the mercy the Lord had already done
and showed him, and in leading him forward to view the blessings
that are yet to come. David, I've done all this, but
I'm not through. I'm not done. David, let me tell
you what I have purpose to do. Past mercies. Children of God,
past mercies are a sure token, a sure proof of future mercies. Grace once bestowed always flows. It never ceases to flow. Has
God had mercy on me? Well, that's proof. That's evidence.
He always will. Because the gift and the calling
of God is without repentance. Repentance on God's part, he
never takes it back. Look at verse 12 again. And when
thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers,
I will set up thy seat after thee, which shall proceed out
of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a
house for thy name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom
forever. As I mention in the reading,
it's worth repeating. Behold, a greater than David
is here." This declaration referred certainly to Solomon. There's
no question about that in the temporal kingdom of David's house,
but in a much, much larger sense. In a much greater sense, it was
meant of David's son and David's God, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is exactly what we read
in Hebrews 1 and 8. But unto the Son, God says. Now you know in that chapter
God's comparing angels to His Son. The superiority of the Lord Jesus
Christ is again and again and again set forth regardless of
what you compare Him to. But unto the Son, God says, Thy
throne. This is God the Father speaking
to God the Son. He never spoke this way to anyone
else. I mean, He didn't even come close
to anyone else when He said unto the Son, Thy throne, O God, is
forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of Thy kingdom. Now, let's read and take verse
18 as a capsule for the whole. David's response to that message
of God's wondrous grace He just can't seem to get over it, can
he? Can you picture this? Look at
verse 18 again. An example of what a believer's
attitude should be to God's grace. God's grace, remember, remember
that unearned, unearned, there's nothing, there's absolutely nothing
you've ever did or could ever do to earn God's grace. If there
was, it wouldn't be grace anymore. Call it something else, but it's
not grace. It's not grace. That's unearned. That's unmerited. That's absolutely
the free favor of two undeserving sinners, just like me and just
like you. It's no wonder David said, who
am I? Who am I? Look again there at
verse 18. Here's David's response. Then,
then, went David in and sat before the Lord. And he said, who am
I, O Lord God? Can't you just picture that?
Oh, may I enter into it. Who am I, O Lord God? And what
is my house that thou hast brought me hither to? I said in last Sunday's message
that I firmly believe. almost extinct in our religious
day, but thank God by His grace it exists. That is, I firmly
believe that when a sinner is made to realize something of
who God really is. I mean, everyone claims to know
God and know Christ. They're clueless. They have a
concept of Him. They formed a God out of their
own imagination, making Him what they would like Him to be or
hope Him to be. But that's not God. That's not
God. When a sinner is made to realize by God's mercy, by a
revelation of God's Holy Spirit, something as to who God really
is. Oh, remember how shocked you
were. Remember when God turned the light on? And you thought,
oh, my soul. Man, have I been wrong. I've
been told all my life salvation is easy. that it's all up to
me, that God's just standing by, Christ is standing by, just
begging me to open up my heart. And when I get ready to do it,
I'll do it. You know, I'll just live my life like I want to,
and if what all these preachers are telling me is true, when
I'm on my deathbed, I'll say, okay, Jesus, I'm ready for heaven,
I'll make my decision. Man, did I find out I've been
lied to, didn't you? When God gave me an inkling,
an inkling, as to who he really is, the high and lofty one, the
God that hates iniquity, the God that only accepts perfection,
the God that demands, demands the satisfaction of his holy
justice. He won't set it aside for you
or me. That's not what mercy is. Mercy
never comes to us at the expense of justice. It always comes to
the sinner on the wings of justice satisfied. God teaches a sinner
that, doesn't he? When we're made aware of who
God is and who I am, they go hand in hand. Until I learn something
about who God really is, I think too much of myself. The less
I think of him or know of him, the more I exalt myself. But
when a sinner is brought down, like David was here, in the presence
of the true God, they're made to feel their need of mercy. And they'll do even more than
that, feel their need. They'll cry out, won't they,
John? They won't get in an armchair and say, let's have a theological
discussion about God's sovereignty and the sinner's depravity. No,
no, no, that's not what the publican did. When he was in the presence
of God Almighty, realizing something about who God is and who he was,
he said, God be merciful to me, I'm the sinner. That's exactly
right. That's exactly right. And any
sinner that hasn't done that doesn't know grace, doesn't know
God. Any sinner that's not bowed down
at the feet of King Jesus is a rebel. They can entertain a
false hope all they want, but when they stand before God Almighty,
Christ is going to say, I don't know you. Oh, you must know us. You must be mistaken. We did
many wonderful things in your name. We did it all in your name. He said, I never knew. You depart
from me. I don't know you. Oh, children
of God, how blessed. No wonder it's such a wonder.
As David said, considering God's mercy, who am I, oh Lord? Who
am I? Who am I? Who am I? That God Almighty should have
mercy on me. Who am I that Jesus Christ loved
me, redeemed me, called me, keeps me? Who am I that He would want
me to be with Him in glory? Who am I, O Lord God? Thou has
done all these great things for us. And when that sinner experiences
that mercy, like the publican did, they'll join with every
other believing sinner and gladly acknowledge from a heart bursting
with gratitude. Oh, not unto us, O Lord. We're
singing again with David, who said this in Psalm 115. He said
it in many places, didn't he? Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us. Don't brag on me. Don't slap
me on the back and tell me I did a great thing for God. Oh, no,
please, don't do that. Away with that. Know the redeemed
sinner bows before the God of all glory and says, not unto
us, O Lord, not unto us, not unto any of us, not unto the
whole shooting match, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy,
for thy mercy, for thy wondrous mercy, and for thy truth's sake. Notice verse 18 again, then. Then, that's when David said
that. When he was reminded of God's
great grace to him, God's free favor, God's mercy, but not before
then. Before the experience of God's
grace, we sing a much different tune, don't we? Don't we? We all do. It's our nature. It's our nature. Before God's
grace, We sing a much different tune. We sing something like
that old song the Pharisees sung. Name that tune. We all sing it. Lord, I thank you that I'm not
like other men. I made myself to differ. And that's the problem, isn't
it? Today's religion makes self-made
men. Self-made men. The theme of his
song is I, I, I. It's all about me. All about
me. But after God brings us down
from our naturally lofty thoughts of ourselves, then, then, we
begin to sing an entirely different tune, don't we? For the first
time in our life, it's no longer I, I, I, but it's him, him, him. It's Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ,
Jesus Christ. We're like spiritual porcupines.
You pull out a quill, and I want to know nothing except Jesus
Christ and him crucified. Pull out another one. Pull out
another one. Oh, Christ loved me and gave
himself for me. Pull out another one. I want
to know only him. I want to hear only him. I want
to think of only him. And it grieves our hearts that
we can't. The psalmist in another place.
wrote this, Psalm 40, I waited patiently for the Lord and He
inclined unto me. Wow! He inclined unto me? Can you picture that? A beggar
on earth and the God of glory bending over to hear that sinner? He inclined unto me and He heard
my cry. My soul, what about that? And
He brought me up also out of a horrible pit Delighted was playing earlier
on their piano that great old hymn, Deeper Than the Stain Has
Gone. Oh, I know his blood still reaches
deeper than the stain has gone. It brought me out of that horrible
pit. It reached down deep out of the
mirey clay and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings,
and he put a new song in my mouth. A new song in my mouth. My daddy
used to say, son, when I would be dumb enough to sass him or
pretend I wasn't going to do something that he told me to
do, my daddy was old fashioned. He believed in punishing his
children. That's obsolete too today, isn't it? That accounts
for all the insanity that goes on around us. My dad would often
say, and he was good at proving it, son, I bet I can change your
tune. I can hear him right now. Boy,
you better do it. I'm not going to tell you again.
I bet I can change your tune. And he sure could. The God of
all grace can sure change a sinner's tune, can't he? He put a new
song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. Something like
this. I stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus the Nazarene and I wonder how he could love me, a sinner
condemned unclean. Step a little higher in wonder
and amazement. He took my sins and my sorrows.
He made them his very own. He bore the burden to Calvary
and he suffered and he died all alone. when with the ransomed in glory,
his face I at last shall see, it will be my joy through the
ages, the scene of not what I did for him, but what he did for
me. It will be my joy through the ages, the scene of his love
for me. Oh, how marvelous, how wonderful,
and my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful
is my Savior's love for me. The wonder of God's grace. I
can't get this picture of King David sitting down in the presence
of God, can you, like a little child. Brother Scott Richardson
said, true preaching, if I remember right, he said true preaching
is getting a message from God's heart to my heart and delivering
it to your heart. He said anything else is just
filling up time. filling up time. Oh, the longer
I live and the more I attempt to preach, the more I realize
how true Scott's words were. Oh, to be able to enter this
pulpit and be consumed with one determination, one thought, not
how I come off, not how you are impressed by me, oh, but that
you will be impressed with myself. the Lord Jesus Christ, that you
would live here saying, oh, Larry, what a message, oh, Larry, this,
oh, no, no, no, no, I hope it's my desire that you leave here
saying, oh, hallelujah, what a Savior, what a Savior. J.C. Philpott, I'm gonna give
you a couple of quotes by two men, and we'll move along. J.C. Philpott, you said you've heard
of him, both these fellas are preachers of years ago, But he
said this, the sense of our weakness in his power, of our misery in
his mercy, of our ruin in his recovery, of our abounding sin
in God's abounding grace, a filling sense. I'm glad these old writers
wasn't afraid to use that word like so many people seem to be
today. Filling, filling. A filling sense, I say, of these
opposite yet harmonious things brings us to have a personal
experimental dealing with God And it is in these personal dealings
with God that the life of true religion consists. Grace is a personal experience. Grace is something that's experienced,
experienced in the heart. It's a heartfelt experience of
God's amazing grace that brings about the wonder exemplified
by David, George Mueller, said this, in the days of the apostles
they were cast out as mad but in these days no man is called
respectable if he doesn't make a profession of religion in some
shape. And people therefore in order
that they may be respected would take a profession of some sort
or the other and therefore the momentous question is this, whether
it is a reality, whether it is a heart work, whether we be born
again, whether it is, after all, only a mere hollow profession.
The question is not whether my name is written on the church
book, but whether it is written in the Lamb's book. Not how my
fellow men look at me, but how God looks at me. The other day,
for some reason, I don't know whether I was reading something,
but it prompted me to ask Robin the question. I said, Robin,
can you Can you name the seven wonders of the world? She turned
around and said, what? I said, can you name the seven
wonders of the world? And she said, no, I don't think
I can. She said, can you? I said, I doubt that I could
name three. The truth is, I don't think I
could hardly name one. The seven wonders of the world.
I think only one still exists. And I read, I read that in 2000,
There were seven new wonders proclaimed. I don't know who
has that power and authority. I don't know who designates something
as being a wonder of the world. Here's my point. Whether it's
seven or 70,000 or 700,000 wonders in this world, nothing this world
can show me, nothing this world can bring me to see, is a greater
wonder than this. Jesus Christ, the God of glory,
the eternal everlasting word of God, for me, was made flesh,
was made likened to his brethren, that he might suffer, suffer
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross, and save my immortal
soul. Now you tell me what wonder is
greater than that. If there is anything or anyone
that is a greater wonder to my heart than that, there's something
wrong with me. I'm in bad shape. There's nothing
more wonderful than this. Jesus Christ loved me. Now come a little closer. Don't
stand back as a casual observer, but come a little closer, child
of God. Jesus Christ loved Larry Criss and gave himself for Larry Criss. My soul, that's a wonder. That's
a marvel. I love that passage. I believe
John does too. He told me he has. I've heard
him say so. That night that that bloodthirsty
religious mob came to the garden, Asking, we're seeking, or saying,
we seek Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus said, I've told you that
I am he. If therefore you seek me, let these go their way. Oh, I love that picture. I love
that picture. He loved me and gave himself
for me. He purged my sins with his own blood. This is my body
which is given for you. Do this. Remember me when you're
doing this. Just don't eat some bread and
drink some wine. Remember me. Remember what I've done for you.
Remember what the cost of your redemption was. It cost me. It's free to you and I, but oh
how it cost him. And when we do this, oh, hear
his words. If it's me you seek, he says
to the justice of God, you found me. You found me. I'm here. Take
me. And it did. But my sheep have
to go free. They've got to go free. Let these
go their way. Oh, and we go our way singing
redeemed. How I love to proclaim. I'm tempted
to sing, Delilah, whether you like it or not. Whether you'll
play for me or not. redeemed, how I love the proclaiming,
redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, that the saying might be
fulfilled which was spoken, of them which thou hast given me,
this is what our Lord had just prayed previously in the garden,
of them which thou hast given me I have lost Arise, my soul,
arise. Shake off thy guilty fears. The
bleeding sacrifice in my behalf appears. Before the throne my
surety stands. My name is written on his hands.
My name is written on his hands. The seven wonders of the world.
Can you name them? I asked Robin and she couldn't.
She asked me and I couldn't. Can you? Can you name the seven
wonders of the world? Don't even try. Don't think about
it. Have you seen any of them, even
in a picture? Let me ask you one more question.
Will it matter 50 years from now? Will it make a lick of difference
50 years from now? Oh, but this will. This has everlasting
consequences. Do I know him, the son of the
living God? You know religion, and we all
see it if we have eyes to see. Religion can make a man marvel,
can it? It doesn't take much. It can
make a man marvel, but only God's grace through Jesus Christ can
make him a new creature. In Christ Jesus, making all old
things to pass away, and behold, behold, all things become new. Even an apostle, temporarily,
was impressed with a picture of man-made religion. You remember
that? In Revelation chapter 17, the
elders show John this woman. This is a picture of man-made
religion. And the woman was a radiant purple
and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stones. Oh,
isn't she impressive? Having a golden cup in her hand
full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. Mystery Babylon,
the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.
And I saw the woman, drunken with the blood of the saints,
and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her,
this is John. John says, when I saw her, I
wandered with great admiration, and the angel said unto me, Wherefore
do you marvel? John, what are you marveling
at her for? She's a whore. She's just dressed
up, deceiving, the multitudes, she's just religious. And we see it all around, don't
we? And it gives me no pleasure, but I would be a liar to say
it doesn't happen, that it's not existing right now. People
are sitting and, oh, look at that. Oh, isn't that marvelous? Oh, I'm so impressed. That was
powerful. I've had some of my loved ones concerning some of
the silliest, stupid stuff done in God's name that you can imagine
and tell me afterwards, oh, it was powerful. It was powerful.
Robin always tries to watch some of Grace Baptist Church live
stream broadcast before our service here. Sometimes I have to remind
her, honey, you have to quit listening to that preacher and
come listen to your husband. I'm sorry. Sorry to do that. But this morning, It was Aaron
Greenleaf, a very good preacher. I enjoyed listening to him myself. But she turned it off, and for
some reason the TV, when it came back on, guess who was on? It
wasn't Aaron Greenleaf, it had gone to a channel, and it was
Joel Osteen. I said, please turn that off! Please turn that off! People pack the place out, don't
they? Pack the place out. And all he
does, he's a little cheerleader. He's a motivational speaker.
He never talks about sin, about salvation, about God's grace.
He's always, God loves you. God wants you wealthy. He wants
you healthy. And people pack the place to
hear that. John, wherefore dost thou marvel? Here's the marvel. Here's the
marvel. There are such impossibilities,
such difficulties in the salvation of a sinner that it takes nothing
less than the power and the wisdom and the love and the grace of
God. Nothing less than the Son of
God coming here and being made man and being made sin could
accomplish such otherwise impossible thing. But the things that are
impossible with man and salvation is are possible with God. It
took a miracle to put the stars in place, and it took a miracle
to put the moon in space. Oh, but when he saved my soul,
cleansed and made me whole, that took a miracle. That took a miracle
of God's love and grace. What a marvel God's mercy is. What a wonder of grace. I may
have shared this with you before, but, oh, just a year or two after
I moved here, My oldest son came to visit him and his family. And my two granddaughters came. And at that time, they were very
young. One's 16 and one's 13 now. Les, we were at his house the
other evening. And he was saying, boy, my, he
said, it's not right that my son Keith is 59 years old today. He said, that can't be possible.
Why not, Lester? Because that makes me old. But
it's, oh, how time flies, doesn't it? Anyway, when they were here,
I took them to the marble quarry, where they picked up pieces of
marble. They loaded their daddy's trunk down with marble. I mean,
it was in the yard. They're going to take it home.
Then I took them to the Blue Bell ice cream parlor. And they went up there and got
them. Oh, they saw all that ice cream. Oh, which one, Pawpaw?
I said, you have to decide. Oh, and they just thought that
was wonderful. And Allie, the youngest one, told her older
sister, we ought to move down here. Everything we did, such
simple things, things we take for granted. But to them, it
was just wide-eyed wonder. Just wide-eyed wonder. David sits down in the presence
of God Almighty after being told of God's purpose of grace toward
him. And David sits down with wide-eyed
wonder. And he says, who am I, oh Lord?
Who am I, oh Lord, that thou hast done these marvelous things
to? Let me bring this to a close. I found this the other day. I
remember reading it and it came to my mind when I was preparing
this message. But this is an article by Brother
Henry Mayhem, dear Brother Henry. It's one of his old bulletin
articles. It's called the Queen of Sheba,
the seeking sinner. And the text is from 1 Kings
10. When the Queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon and
the temple that he had built, there was no more spirit in her. She stood there in wide-eyed
wonder. And Henry wrote, she heard in
her own country about the glory of Solomon's kingdom, so she
came to see it and to prove him with questions. He told her all
her questions. And when she saw his wisdom and
glory and his ascent to the temple of the Lord, she was so overwhelmed
and awed that she could not speak." How about that? She could not
speak. Henry said, this is a picture of a seeking sinner who hears
of Christ and he comes to him and has revealed to him the wisdom
and the glory and the exaltation of the Lord Jesus at God's right
hand. He, like Mary, sits at his feet
unable to find words to say. Henry said, be concerned about
those wordy, talkative new converts, not the one who cannot find words
to express his joy and vision of Christ. You don't have to
be concerned about him. That sinner that stands before
Jesus Christ in wide-eyed wonder and can't find words to express
the feeling of his heart, he just melts down before him. melts
down before him and says, Lord, who am I? Oh, that's the wonder,
that's the wonder that we who were dead in trespasses and sins
had God quicken, quicken with Christ, by grace are you saved
through faith. When David was leaving this world,
he rested his immortal soul on the everlasting covenant of God's
grace in Christ. Let me read it to you. You know
it, but let me read it. David's on his deathbed. 2 Samuel
23. Now these be the last words of
David. David, the son of Jesse, said,
And the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the
God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel said, The Spirit of
the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. The God
of Israel said, The rock of Israel spoke to me. That's Christ. He
that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.
And he shall be as the light of the morning when the sun riseth,
even a morning without clouds, an unclouded day, as the tender
grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain,
although my house be not so with God. But he didn't stop there,
did he? Yet, yet, he had made with me
an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things ensured, where
this is all my salvation and all my desire, though he make
it not to grow." Oh, a sinner can lay his head down on that
pillow, can't he, John? Hmm? Jesus Christ, the great
shepherd of the sheep, my David, God entered into a covenant with
him on my behalf. He's responsible for me. He's
responsible for me. He must answer for me. And bless
God, there'll be none lost. In old John Bunyan's famous allegory,
Pilgrim's Progress, he tells the story about those believers
who got a summons, he called it a summons, it was delivered
to them, a summons that it was time for them to pass over, to
go down to the river because nobody could reach the celestial
city without going through that river. the river of death. And
though this one had been fearful in their journey while they were
a pilgrim on this earth, so timid, so fearful, when they stepped
into the water, after receiving their summons, they turned and
said to those standing on the bank, this ain't too bad. This is not as I thought it would
be. I feel the bottom and it's good. And so they passed over into
the other side, and the trumpet sounded for them, and they entered
into the gates into the city. This truth of God's unmerited
grace is expressed in that old hymn better than I can put it,
Hail Sovereign Love. There's so many verses to it,
but I'll just read a few. Hail Sovereign Love which first
began, the scheme to rescue fallen man. Hail matchless free eternal
grace which gave my soul a hiding place. Against the God who ruled
the sky, I fought with hand uplifted high, despised the notion of
his grace, too proud to seek a hiding place. But thus, the
eternal counsel ran, O mighty love, arrest that man. O mighty
love, arrest that man. Arrest that man. Oh, not him. Ananias said, not him. Oh Lord
God, you can't mean him. Not Saul of Tarsus. I mean, we've
heard what he's done with your people, to your people in Jerusalem.
And now he's come here for the same thing, to Damascus. Surely
not him. You can't mean him. And thus
the eternal counsel ran, almighty grace, yes. Arrest them. Thus the eternal counsel ran,
yes. O mighty grace, arrest that man. I felt the arrows of distress
and found I had no hiding place. Ere long a heavenly voice I heard,
and mercy's angel soon appeared. He led me on with gentle pace,
that Jesus Christ, my hiding place. Should sevenfold storms
of thunder roll, and shake the earth from pole to pole, No thunderbolt
shall daunt my face, for Jesus is my hiding place. A few more
rolling suns at most shall land me on fair Canaan's coast, where
I shall sing the song of grace and see my glorious hiding place. May God be pleased to allow us
to remember our Redeemer when we observe the Lord's Supper.
God bless you. Thank you for your attention.