Psalms 138, and I want to read
the entire Psalms. It just has eight verses. Psalms
138. If you have your Pew Bible, it
will be on 713. Verse 1, I will praise thee with
my whole heart before the gods, before the kings, before magistrates,
before the powers that be. Before the gods will I sing unto
thee. I will worship towards thy holy
temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy
truth. For thou hast magnified thy word
above all thy name. In the day when I cried, thou
answeredst me, and strengthenest me with strength in my soul. All the kings of the earth shall
praise thee, O Lord, when they hear the word of thy mouth. Yea,
they shall sing in the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory
of the Lord. Though the Lord be high, yet
has he respect unto the lowly, but the proud he knows afar off.
Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me. Thou shalt stretch forth thine
hand, against the wrath of my enemies, and thy right hand shall
save me. The Lord will perfect that which
concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endeareth
forever. Forsake not the works of thy
hands." Verse 8 is my text that I want you to look at with me
this morning. I want to divide it in three
simple categories. I want us to look at David's
confession. Here is King David's confession.
A great king. We are always concerned with
great men's confession of faith. Here in the first part of verse
1 we have that. Where he says, The Lord will
perfect that which concerneth me. And then I want to look at
the second portion of verse 8. It seems to be the foundation
upon which he makes this confession. And that is this, O Lord, Thy
mercy endeareth forever. And then the last part of verse
8, we have this petition. We have this prayer. So first
of all, let's look at this great King's confession of faith. O Lord, thou wilt perfect that
which concerneth me. And if you'll notice, the first
part of verse 8 and the last part of verse 8 helps us here
to understand what he's saying. The first part, Lord, you will
perfect that which concerneth me. Forsake not the works of
your hands. And when you read those two together,
the great psalmist is saying this, the Lord has begun a work
with His hands. And this work that He's begun
with His hands is concerning me. And the work that He's begun
with His hands, He won't leave off. He'll never cease to work
until he's performed that work, until he's completed it, until
he's finished it. He'll accomplish the desired
end of the work of his hands. This word concern, concerneth,
we often use this in the two definitions that's given for
it. Concern means pertaining to something that pertains to
me. It concerns me. And then the
second way we often use this word, that which gives me serious
thought, that which I often contemplate upon. The Lord will perfect,
He will perform that which pertains to me. He will perform that which
concerns me and gives me anxious thought. Now what was it that
concerned David? What was it that gave him some
anxious thought? Well, I want to show you in the
Scriptures a couple of things, and I want you to turn to these
passages with me. If you would like to, put a marker
there at Psalm 138, and look with me at 1 Samuel, back over
to your left, chapter 25. 1 Samuel, chapter 25, and verse
28. 1 Samuel chapter 25 and verse 28. This is where Abigail, the wife
of Nabal, wicked Nabal, David had sent for Nabal to supply his soldiers some food. And Nabal refused, cursed him,
and mocked him. And David was coming here to
get revenge. He was going to kill this man.
And Abigail, Nabal's wife, she meets David. And look what she
tells David concerning him. These are some things pertaining
to David in verse 28. I pray thee, forgive the trespass
of thine handmaid, for the Lord will certainly, he most certainly,
will make my Lord a sure house. Because my Lord fighteth the
battles of the Lord, and evil hath not been found in thee all
these days. Yet a man, King Saul, is risen
to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul. But the soul of my Lord
shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God. And the souls of thine enemies,
them shall he sling out as of the middle of the slain. And
it shall come to pass, when the Lord shall have done to my Lord
according to all the good that He hath spoken concerning thee,
and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel, that this
shall not be a grief unto thee, nor an offence of heart unto
my Lord, that you killed my husband." You will notice the things that
the Lord spoke here concerning David. that he was going to build
him a sure house. This was pertaining to his descendants,
his son, and you follow the lineage of Judah, and it goes all the
way to the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that here he was going to slang David's enemies out as
a man would slang a stone out of the middle of the slang. And
you read the ending of David's life, and he's conquered all
his enemies. He rules over them. He has peace. And Abigail says here, these
are just some of the things concerning David. He was concerned about
these things, these things that were pertaining to him. And we
read in my text, David said, you will perform those things
concerning me. Whatever you have said about
me, the promises that you have made concerning me, you will
perfect those sayings. You will perform those promises. Look over here just a little
bit in 2 Samuel chapter 7. 2 Samuel chapter 7 and look in
verse 1 and verse 11 and 13. 2 Samuel chapter 7. And it came to pass when the
king sat in his house, and the Lord had given him rest round
about from all his enemies." That's exactly what Abigail predicted,
wasn't it? David, the Lord's going to subdue
your enemies. He's going to sling them out
as you would sling a stone out of your sling. Well, here he
is. And he has peace. He has rest.
David had confidence in the Lord concerning his profession that
whatever the Lord promised him, that he would perform it. And
then he says here in the same chapter, and look in verse 11,
And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel,
and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies, also
the Lord telleth thee that he will make thee an house, 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, and he shall build
that house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom
for ever." Now what a wonderful prophecy concerning David. He said, David, when you've breathed
out your last, I'm going to raise up your seed and His throne,
He's going to set on your throne and that throne shall be established
forever. Now, who was he talking about?
Was he talking about Solomon? Well, Solomon's throne wasn't
established forever, was it? As a matter of fact, it was in
the days of Solomon that Solomon gave the Lord cause to divide
the kingdom. Who is he talking about? Look
over in Acts chapter 2 in verse 29. Acts chapter 2 in verse 29. David had been dead, bless his
heart, for probably 1,500 or 2,000 years. And his body had
decayed. All that was left, if anything,
was his dust. That you were his sepulcher,
his grave was, but that's all that was left of him. Here Peter
is on the Neb Pentecost, and he is filled with the Holy Ghost,
and he is preaching concerning David and all that pertained
to his house and his throne. And look here what he says about
him in verse 29. Acts chapter 2 and verse 29.
Men and brethren, let me freely speak to you of the patriarch
David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is
with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and
knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit
of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ
to sit on his throne." It wasn't Solomon at all, was it? It was
Christ, the real Son of David. And he's seeing this before Spacer,
the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell,
Neither did his flesh seek corruption. This Jesus hath God raised from
the dead." He has raised him up. Therefore, we are witnesses. Therefore, being by the right
hand of God, exalted, and having received of the Father the promise
of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and
hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens, not physically,
but he saith unto him, The Lord said to my Lord, set on my right
hand, till I make your foals your footstool. Therefore let
all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath declared
this same Jesus whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ."
And I can't help but believe David's confession, at least
in part, is pertaining to these things that God had promised
concerning him. From the time He anointed Him
as King over Israel until He lay on His deathbed, He said,
David, I have made you all of these promises. I have spoken
so many prophecies concerning you, and now you are going to
go the way of all the earth, but you be assured of this, that
all these things that I have spoken concerning you, I will
perform them. And here they are, aren't they?
Jesus Christ is seated this morning upon David's throne. He's not waiting until they build
a temple in Jerusalem. He's on His throne now. He's
David's son and David's Lord. And this was David's confession.
He said, I believe the Lord is faithful and mighty to perform
that which He's spoken concerning me. But there's something else
here, and I don't mean to diminish this first portion that I've
just dealt with, but there's something else here, I think,
that comes closer to David's confession of faith. It was the
work of the Lord in him concerning his salvation, his eternal salvation. The salvation of his soul now
and the salvation of his body hereafter, the eternal salvation
of His person. David said, He has begun a work
of grace in me, and He will perform that, He will bring that to completion. Now that's a mighty confession
of faith, ain't it? David spoke here in this, my
text in the 138th Psalm and verse 3, he hints at what he's talking
about here, something spiritual. He said, He shall strengthen
me in my soul. And there in verse 7, He said,
Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me. Thou wilt stretch forth thy hand
against the wrath of my enemy, and thy right hand shall save
me. He is speaking here of salvation.
This is His confession of faith concerning the salvation of His
soul and body. The Lord will save me. You know, that's David's favorite
and most often quoted phrase in all his psalms. The Lord will
save me. Lord save me. I challenge you
sometime to get your concordance and read through the book of
Psalms. Look up the word saved and look at the times David is
calling upon the Lord to save him. and his confidence that
the Lord will save him. Let me just quote you a few of
them. Very precious. Arise, O Lord, and save me, O
my God. Return, O Lord, deliver my soul,
O save me for Thy mercy's sake. Sounds like some of you praying.
And here was the king of nations. Men were subject to this man,
and here he is on his face before the God of heaven, and what's
he praying for? Lord, save me by your mercies. O Lord my God, in thee do I put
my trust. Save me from all of them that
persecute me, and deliver me. Bow down thine ear to me, deliver
me speedily. Be thou my strong rock for in
a house of defense to save me. Make your face to shine upon
thy servant, save me for thy mercy's sake. I will not trust
in my bow, neither shall my sword save me, but thou shalt save
me." These are all different psalms, and you can read them
and go on and on and on, so many places in the book of Psalms. And what does this show us? What
does this tell us? But David was concerned about
being saved. He was concerned about obtaining
the favor and mercy of God. He contemplated this. He often
wrote of that. He was concerned about forgiveness
of sins. You study the 130th chapter of
his book here in Psalms, and I tell you he was concerned about
never standing before God. with one sin against Him. He
said, Lord, I know your holiness. I know that you are just. And
I know your eyes can see right down into the soul and thoughts
of a man. And He said, I know if you mark
one iniquity against a man, he cannot stand. But there is forgiveness
with you that you may be feared. Listen to Psalms 25. Remember,
Lord, not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions, but according
to Your mercy remember Thou me, O Lord. In Psalm 79, O remember
not against me my former iniquities. Let Your tender mercies speedily
prevent me, for I am brought very low. And Romans 4 tells
us, Paul quotes David talking about how blessed it is to have
all your sins forgiven and all your iniquities covered. Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. And here David
comes and he gives us his confession of faith and he says this, I
was concerned about forgiveness of my sins and I know this, The
Lord will perfect that which concerns me. I am concerned about
forgiveness, and I won't dare stand before Him with one sin
charged to my count." Now, isn't that a wonderful confession of
faith? He will perfect that which causes me anxious thought. David was a man who wanted to
live and die in the faith. And I tell you, I bet he would
have been horrified if he thought that there may come a time when
his heart would grow colder and colder and finally he would just
die. He had ceased to believe. He
had finally perished with the wicked. Don't you think that
he thought about that? Do you ever think about that?
Do you ever think, what would happen if it come the time that
I fell into such unbelief, that I'd be lost and perish? Does
that concern you? It concerned Him. But oh, He had this confession.
He said, that time will never come. How do you know that? How do you know? He said, because
the Lord has begun faith in me. This is His work. And he will
perfect that which concerneth me." I don't know when David
first began to believe the Lord. It was sometime when he was just
a little kid out watching the sheep. He knew the Lord. He believed
in the Lord. But I tell you this, when that
work begun in his heart, he tells us himself that the Lord will
never let that work die. Now that's his confession. That's
his confession. I'm not giving you mine, I'm
giving you his. This is what he said. Thou wilt
guide me with thy counsel, with your word, with your gospel,
with your spirit, and afterwards you shall receive me to glory. Now brothers, that's confidence,
ain't it? You will guide me with your counsel. And afterwards you shall receive
me to glory." How can a man live with such confidence? How does
he know the Lord will do it? How does he know that he will
enter glory at last? Well, his confidence is in the
Lord. The Lord will perform that which
concerneth me. He's began this work. It's a
work of His hands, and He won't leave off. He won't let it die
until he's finished it, until he's brought it to that desired
end. What a confident confession this
man had. The Lord will perfect. This confidence
was not only in what the Lord had done and was doing now. But I tell you, it was a confession
of faith of what the Lord was going to do in the future. There's
no sense of people looking back and living in the past, is there?
Oh, I remember 35 years ago. What about now? And more importantly,
what about tomorrow? What about next year? David's
confession looked out into the future. He will perfect that
which concerneth me. What a wonderful confession this
is. David didn't say, Oh, my faith
is strong, therefore, I believe He'll perfect it. He didn't say,
My faith is so strong, I know I'll overcome the world and the
flesh and the devil. That's not what his confession
was based upon. He didn't say, Oh, I'm so full
of love to the Lord, I know I'll never leave Him. If you read
the book of Psalms, you see that this poor man was just as changeable
as you and I are. One moment he's up and he's full
of faith, and the next moment he's down in despair. One minute
he's full of love to the Lord, and the next minute he's laying
in the arms of Bathsheba. No, he's just like us. He doesn't
say, oh, I'm so resolved in this thing that I'm never going back
on him. Therefore, no, that's not where
his confidence is. His confidence is in the Lord.
The Lord will perfect that which concerns him. Now, that's David's
confession, and we could go on and on about it. But let me ask
you this question. Is this confession of faith taught
other places in the scriptures? I think we have to ask ourselves
that, because If we can't find it in other places in the Scriptures,
it may be that we misunderstood his confession of faith. You
and I believe some precious truths in the Bible, and one of the
reasons we believe them is because they're all through the Bible.
We don't just pick out one verse as I have this morning and establish
a doctrine upon that verse. And if this is the only place
that talks about David's confession, then it must not be very important.
Can we find this taught in other places in the Scripture? If we
can, then maybe it's your confession. Is this your confession? Do you
have confidence in the Lord that perhaps He's begun a work of
grace in your heart? And if He has, do you have the
same confession and confidence that David had about His? The
Lord will perform that which His hands have begun in me. Can
we find this in other places? Well, take your Bible and turn
to some places with me. Look in Isaiah chapter 26. Look
in Isaiah chapter 26 and verse 12. Isaiah chapter 26 and verse 12. Turn quickly with me. We'll read
a few places. Isaiah chapter 26 and verse 12. Lord, I love the old and the New Testament
when they speak to the Lord. You find it in the New Testament,
it's always Lord. They called Him Jesus for obvious
reasons. That was His human name. And
we love that name. But I tell you, when they were
speaking to him personally, they addressed him as Lord. And look at what Isaiah said
about his confidence. Lord, thou wilt ordain, you will
establish peace for us. Christ has made peace through
the blood of His cross. For thou also hast wrought, you
have worked all our works in My goodness, that's the same
thing David said, isn't it? Have you come to Christ? Have
you come to the Lord Jesus Christ? In your heart of hearts, have
you come to Him as a poor sinner to be saved by His rich grace? Have you come to Him utterly
weak to be saved by His power? Have you come to Him wretched
to be saved by His marriage? Have you really come to Christ?
What was the cause of your coming? If you've come, you know it's
a good work. Man, it's a wonderful thing to
come to Christ, ain't it? Nothing better than that. What's
the cause of your coming? Here it is, isn't it? Thou hast
wrought all our works. All of them? All of them? My
faith? Brother Glenn often quotes John
6, 29, this is the work of God that you believe on Him. It's
not God's work or our work. It's God's work. And we do it. What a mystery. No man can come
to me except my Father first work in Him, giving Him faith,
giving Him a need to come to me. That's wonderful. Do you have a heart for the Lord
Jesus Christ this morning? Do you fear God? Do you follow
Him in the way? Do you hope in Him? Do you cleave
to Him? Do you seek to give yourself
up to Him more and more each day? You know something? That's
not your work. No, you're not the cause of that.
That's God's work. All of it. Look here in another
place. Look in Philippians chapter 1
in the New Testament. People always want us to go to
the New Testament. Bruce, get out of the Old Testament
and go to the New. Well, OK. Look at Philippians
chapter 1. And look in verse 6. Look in
verse 5 and 6. Look here in the book of Philippians
just for a minute. Philippians 1, 5. We're giving
thanks, Paul said, for your fellowship. in the gospel from the first
day unto now, being confident of this very thing, that he which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day
of Jesus Christ. I wonder if the Apostle Paul
had not just read my text. Isn't that my text? Lord, you
will perform, you will perfect, you will finish that which you've
begun in me, David said. You'll have a desire, Job said,
to the work of your hands. And here Paul says it, the very
same thing that David read. He's begun a good work. It's
a work of grace. It's a work of God's hand. And
he will never cease to work until he's finished what he began.
Look what he says here in chapter 2 in Philippians 2, verse 12
and 13. Wherefore, my beloved, as you
have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but how much
more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear
and tremor. Now, if we stop there, if we stop there, we're going
to miss a blessing, aren't we? And may lead to just a little
bit of legalism and self-righteousness and pride, but he didn't stop
there, did he? For it is God that worketh in
you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure." A man has
never done anything until he willed to do it. A man says,
I'm not willing to come to Christ. Okay, you'll never come to Christ
then. I'm not willing to follow the Lord. All right, you'll never
follow Him then. A man won't do anything that's acceptable
to God and that's right from a motive except he's first willing. And a man won't ever be willing
until God makes him willing in the day of his father. It's God
that worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. The Lord Jesus Christ said, without
me you can do nothing. Nothing. It's God that works
in you. It's God that works in you. Listen
to Job 14, 14, 15. Listen to this. If a man die,
shall he live again? All my days will I wait until
my change come. Thou wilt call, and I will answer
thee, and thou shalt have a desire to the work of thine hands. Lord, forsake not the work of
your hands." You know what salvation is, brothers and sisters, from
the start to finish, it's the work of the Lord's hands. You go way back there in the
beginning, His creative hands farmed us from the dust of His
nail-pierced hands redeemed us from our sins. His glorified
hands receives us and secures us and refuses to let us go. You can commit yourself unto
His hands with the assurance that what He has begun, He will
accomplish. It is God. who work within you.
Lord, Lord, have a desire to the work of your hands. He will,
if He started it. If you started it, you probably
better do all you can to try to finish it. And I'm afraid
when you finish it, it's going to be a mess. It's going to be
like a piece of clay that some unskilled potter put on the wheel
itself and made a mess of it. It's a cracked piece of pottery. in a way of self-examination.
Dear soul, what are you concerned about this morning? What are you concerned about?
Are you more concerned about eternity than time? Are you more
concerned about heaven than earth? Are you more concerned about
the things of the soul than you are about the things of the body?
It's good to think about, ain't it? What do I contemplate? Am I concerned more about the
forgiveness of my sins than I am serving them? What concerns me? Am I more concerned about laying
up treasures in heaven than I am on earth? Am I more concerned
about a perfect righteousness to clothe the shame of my nakedness
than I am about working up a righteousness of filthy rags? of my own? Are we concerned about obtaining
favor and acceptance with God here and in the world to come? If we are not concerned about
these things, then it is obvious the Lord will not perfect them.
But if we are concerned about entering God's favor obtaining mercy and salvation
from Him here, then we can live in the same confidence that David
did. He will perfect that which concerneth me. I want you to look at the grounds
now. That's the first part of the text. I want you to quickly
look at the grounds of David's confident confession. O Lord,
Thou wilt perfect that which concerneth me. And here's the
grounds. through which he could be so
confident that the Lord would do so. Thy mercy, O Lord, endeareth
forever. It was based upon mercy. He'll
do it because of His mercy, His covenant mercy. I don't know
how old again David was when he wrote this psalm. If he was
a young boy, boy, he had a lot of confidence in
the Lord's mercy, didn't he? He said, if I live, 100 more
years, if I live 120 or 150 more years, I know this much, the
Lord's mercy will finish the work that He began. Because it
endures forever. If He wrote this when He was
120 years old or so, when He was an old man, then He just
made a complete circle and come right back around to where He
began at mercy. He believed in mercy when he
was a child because the Lord saved him by His mercy. And now
he's an old man. And what's he talking about?
Mercy. As you grow older in the Lord, does your need of mercy
diminish in your eyes? It's magnified, isn't it? Don't
you feel that you need mercy more this morning than you've
ever had in all your life? You started out by calling upon Him
for mercy. He saved you by His mercy. And
now you're old in the Lord, you're 20 or 30 or 40 years old, and
you come right back around where you started in the beginning.
Mercy, mercy, mercy. Thy mercy, O Lord, endeareth
forever. If pure mercy loved us, then
pure mercy will always love us. If pure mercy chose us, then
pure mercy will always use us. If pure mercy saves us, then
pure mercy will never let us be lost. Mercy. Jude said, keep yourselves in
the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. Looking for the mercy. We look back on mercy, for it's
mercy that saved us. Now we hope in mercy and we look
for mercy. When the Lord comes, I told you
about the old preacher that was on his deathbed, and another
one of his friends came and got down next to him and said, Dear
brother, you're going to receive your reward. And he opened his
eyes and said, Dear brother, I'm going to receive mercy. Mercy. We're vessels of mercy, aren't
we? Mercy chose us to salvation. Mercy redeemed us. Mercy called
us and put us on this wheel and is confirming us to the image
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Mercy. Mercy. It's your confidence
in His mercy or your sealing marriage. Jo's grandmother used to say,
I don't know how many times I've heard her say this, and bless
her heart, I'm afraid she died believing this, if we'll be good,
the Lord be merciful. Mercy is not for that kind of
people. Mercy is for the miserable. Mercy is for the weak. Mercy
is for those who have no goodness, no merit. And when you see that
you are nothing in yourself but a poor, perishing sinner, and
you obtain mercy, I tell you, you'll sing about it the rest
of your life, and your confidence will be in His mercy. And when
it dawns upon you from the Word of God that His mercy endures
forever, here's what you'll see, that He'll perform the work that
He's begun. Mercy. I often like to think,
I love to think of this, your imagination never just runs wild
with you. Can you imagine these things? I love to imagine the
day of judgment has come and the wicked have been assigned
their place in the lake of fire. And then all the works of the
Triton, God's hand, pass down before Him. Here He is seated
on His glorious high throne. And all the works of His hands,
they parade by. In some mysterious way, here
comes the new heaven and a new earth. that He's created. And
oh, it's full of beauty and splendor and pureness. Nothing dwells
in this new creation but righteousness and holiness. And oh, it salutes
its Creator and marches on by. Then I like to thank these cherubims
and seraphims. If they are indeed living creatures,
oh, they're And they lead the band, and they come through,
and they give a sharp and humble salute to their Creator, God,
the Triune God. And then comes Michael, that
mighty archangel, and behind him this train of heavenly angels,
the spirits of ministering to the Lord's saints. Their flash
is lightning. And they all march by the throne
and they all salute their Lord and their Creator. And oh, God
looks upon them and says, that's the work of my hand. And here
comes Gabriel. I think of all angels, the choicest
of angels. For it was him who carried the
message unto you is born this day. Of all the angels you'd
like to be, which one would you like to be? Oh, I think when
God called Gabriel up and said, I've got a message for you. Oh,
his face lit up. I want you to announce the coming
of the Savior. And here he is marching before
the Lord. And behind him comes another
heavenly host. And they're yet singing, glory
to God in the highest on earth, peace, goodwill towards man.
What are these? Well, these are the work of His
hands. And He'll sit someday and parade them before Him and
look upon them and have a desire to. But what's that you see coming
lastly? Who is that? Oh, and they're
stretched, mile after mile, a number that no man can number. And all
of them are dressed in raiment, pure and white, with palms in
their hands. Who is that, you ask? And they
are shining as the sun in its strength. And a smile is upon
their face. And they leap for joy. Who is
that? That's vessels of mercy. That's
trophies of mercies. And oh, as they pass by, what
is their song? Thy mercy endeareth Forever of
covenant mercy, as we sang, mercy has triumph. We are here because
of your mercies. And what does the triune God
do? Oh, brother, this is amazing to think of this. It truly happens. It will be amazing that He is
so impressed with Himself and His work. That He stands and
you see the holy pride filling His soul. And he begins to laugh. The eternal God is laughing?
Yes. And rejoices over them. Why? Because this is the work
of His hands. Oh, vessels of mercy. Are you
ashamed of it? No, thank God for the day when
He beats you out of all your merits and worth. And He says
you are a vessel of mercy and you owned it. And now all you
sing of is mercy. Mercy. Mercy. What was David's
confession built upon? How could he be so confidently
and say, once you've begun, Lord, you'll finish. Mercy. Mercy. There's no end to it. There's
no depths or no heights to it. Mercy. One last thing, and I'll
close quickly. And the last portion of my verse
says this. Turn over and read it with me.
Psalm 138, and look in the last portion of verse 8. This is so
important. We have His confession, what His confession stands upon,
the grounds of it. And here we have a petition. Forsake not the works of your
hands. Well, I know why He said that.
I know why the Holy Spirit moved upon this man to pray that prayer.
He knew that there would be all kinds of infidels and atheists
and free willers and Armenians who would say, well, if you say
the Lord's doing all the work, why even pray about it? If I
believe what you believe, I'll just stay home. What will be,
will be, so don't worry about it. That's where Doris Day got
her song, wasn't it? Whatever will be, will be. I
doubt anything hardly ever comes to pass except God uses prayer
to do it. Old Charles Feeney, the greatest heretic. I try not to be negative. You
know I do. I try not to stand up here and
vilify people. Charles Finney was probably the greatest heretic
that America ever produced. And he not only would berate
you, if you confessed what we've been studying this morning, he'd
berate David. He's very bold. Charles Finney
says, I have power to give my own self a new heart. I believe because I exercise
my will. That's what Charles Feeney believed.
He had the power to begin the work, and he says he had the
power to carry on the work, and he had power to complete the
work. Now, is that heresy? That's not David's confession,
is it? My neighbor asked me one time if I had any works by Charles
Feeney that he could read, and I said, no, I don't. I've got
some, but you can't read them. I'm not giving those to anybody.
That's just a proof of what a heretic that man was. Well, then why do you pray? If
the works of His, why do you pray? Is there anybody in here
that believes with me this morning that the Lord gives us our food
that we eat? Does everybody believe that? All of us believe that,
don't we? Then why do we pray, Lord give
us this day our daily bread? Because He tells us to. And we feel our need to, don't
we? I tell you, if you're concerned this morning about forgiveness
of your sins, I tell you why, you let the guilt of it. You
let the guilt of sin rest its heavy weight upon your conscience.
You know what you'll be doing? God, be merciful to me, sir. Oh, be merciful. God, be merciful. Yes, you will. And you know why
you'll pray that? Because you'll believe that He's
able to forgive you yourself. You know why David was praying,
Lord, have a desire to the work of your hands, don't forsake
it? You know why he was praying that? Because he knew the Lord
was able to perform that which He had promised to perform. If
you don't believe it, you won't pray about it. But if you believe
it, that's when you start praying about it. You don't pray about much you're
not anxious about, do you? That's been my experience. But
you become anxious about salvation. You become anxious about your
need of a new heart and a new spirit, a new life, new desires,
new loves. And you know in your heart of
hearts, you can't do these things yourself. I'll tell you what
you'll start doing. You'll get on your face someone
and you'll say, Lord, please do this for me. You demand of me to have a righteousness
And I can't earn it. I can't produce it. A perfect
righteousness. Oh, is there such a righteousness?
Yes, it's in my Son. Please give it to me. Clothe
me with it. Sometime go to Ezekiel chapter
37. The Lord is saying there, I'll
give you a new heart and a new spirit. I'm going to wash you.
And then he turns right back around and the last verse and
he says this. I will yet for this be inquired
of him to do it for you. Because he's able to do it, because
he's promised to do it to all who believe on him, pray about
it. God bless his Word. Let us pray.