Good morning. Mark, I didn't
ask you what you were planning to read from this morning. If it's Luke chapter 2, please
feel free to continue as you planned, okay? But I just wanted
to call attention to a couple of verses here in Luke chapter
2, beginning in verse 8, if you'd like to open your Bibles there
with me. You know, pastors and gospel
preachers are referred to in the scriptures as shepherds,
under shepherds of the sheep. And here's a picture of what
we're doing here this morning. Beginning in verse eight, and
there was in the same country shepherds abiding in the field,
keeping watch over their flock by night. We live in a dark world. You've been living in a very
dark world. I live in a dark world. There's
no light outside of the light of the gospel. And so the sheep
come to this place that the light might shine in their hearts.
And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, came upon these
shepherds, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them.
And they were so afraid. The fear of God begins with a
man who has to stand to declare the gospel. And, uh, and the
angel said unto him, fear not for behold, I bring you good
tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people for unto you
is born this day in the city of David, a savior. which is Christ the Lord. That's the message unto you. Is born this day in the city
of David, a savior. Sinners are in need of a savior.
You come here this morning as a sinner, I have good news for
you. There's a savior. His name is
Jesus and he is the Christ and he's Lord. Amen. All right, let's
stand together. Scott's going to come lead us
in number 100, come all ye faithful, number 100 in the hardback hymnal. O come, all ye faithful, joyful
and triumphant, O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem. ? Come and behold him ? ? Born
the king of angels ? ? O come let us adore him ? ? O come let
us adore him ? ? O come let us adore him ? ? For he is Christ the Lord ? ?
Sing choirs of angels ? ? Sing in exultation ? ? Sing all ye
brothers of heaven above ? Glory to God. Glory in the highest. O come, let us adore him. O come, let us adore him. Come, let us adore him, Christ
the Lord. Yea, Lord, we greet thee, born
this happy morning. ? Jesus to thee be all glory
given ? ? Word of the Father now in flesh appearing ? ? O
come let us adore him ? ? O come let us adore him ? Good morning,
brothers and sisters. Turn with me for our call to
worship today if you would please to Revelation chapter 1. Our
brother passed on this chapter briefly last week and it's kind
of dwelt with me. I think it's been a help to me
and hopefully it'll be a help for you as well. Revelation chapter 1. The revelation
of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants
things which must shortly come to pass. And he sent and signified
it by his angel unto his servant John, who bare record of the
word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ and of all things
that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth and
they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things
which are written therein. for the time is at hand. John,
to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace be unto you, and
peace from him which is, and which was, and which is to come,
and from the seven spirits which are before his throne, and from
Jesus Christ, who is a faithful witness, the first begotten of
the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth, unto him
that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. and
hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father. Unto
him be the glory and dominion forever and ever, amen. Behold,
he cometh with clouds, and everyone shall see him, and they also
which pierced him. And all the kindreds of the earth
shall wail because of him, even so, amen. I am Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and
which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. Oh, most heavenly
Father, we know that all your promises are yea and amen. We
know you said when two or three are gathered in your name, you're
here amongst us. And we're glad, Lord, we'd ask
But you did be with our brothers. He brings forth your message.
Cause to go through Lord. Let us see through a glass darkly.
We also know your promises as yay and amen, but you said you'll
never leave us. You'll never forsake us. Cause
or help our unbelief Lord that we might believe. Be with our
brethren Lord as they travel this this season. Watch over
and care for him. Bring him back safely as you
will. We thank you for all of these
things, the most holy and perfect name. Amen. So we'll sing the hymn on the
back of your bulletin. Let's stand as we sing, Behold,
I Come. ? Savior promised love ? ? I've
come to do thy will, O God ? ? And thus our hope was born ? ? Behold,
the Virgin has conceived ? ? And born a son of flair ? His name
is called Emmanuel God dwells in human flesh The angels left
their high abode to see this mystery. The great, almighty, sovereign
God, a babe of feeble claim. Mortals beheld his lovely face,
the Father's only Son. How full of truth, how full of
grace, Christ came to save his own. His spotless life of righteousness
and sin-atoning death fulfilled his Father's holy will and satisfies
his wrath. Our glad Hosannas, Prince of
Peace, your glory shall proclaim. Enthroned in heaven as our King,
we love to praise your name. Let's open our Bibles together
to the second chapter of Ruth. The second chapter of Ruth. My hope this morning is that
the Lord will enable us to drink from some still waters. David
said in Psalm 23 that the Lord had led him to still waters. And from what I understand, sheep
I won't drink out of a rushing river because they can't swim. And so they're intimidated by
the volume of water that's coming by. So the work of the shepherd
would be to dig a ditch from the edge of the river and create
a pond where the water could pool up and the sheep could come
and drink from that water. And that really does describe
the pastor's work. He's trying to bring a little
water out of the rushing river of the Bible, and the Bible can
be very intimidating, can't it? Sixty-six books written over
1,500 years by 35 different men, and it can be intimidating. I have one simple still message
this morning. The title of this message is
Why Me, Lord? Why Me, Lord? Unbelief. Unbelief will question
God's wisdom and his love when it comes to suffering. Unbelief
will stand in judgment of God and think that these things are
not right or they're not fair. It is the nature of man to think
that he knows better than God. And generally when men say, why
me Lord, they are standing in judgment of a God who in his
wise providence has ordained something for them that they
don't like. There's a statement in your bulletin
this morning written by Scott Richardson, years past, and it's
a very, very true statement. He said, if we had the power
of God, we would change everything. And we would. If we had the power
of God, we'd tweak everything. Some things we'd change altogether,
some things we'd just change a little bit, but we'd change
everything. If we had the wisdom of God, we'd change nothing.
And yet, unbelief calls into question the things of God. Scripture says in Job chapter
one, at the end of that chapter after Job had suffered many things
at the hand of God's providence, that says that in all of this,
Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. Well, that was the
beginning of his suffering. As things went on, and as his
miserable comforters accused him, he justified himself before
God. And much of the book of Job is
Job saying to God, why me, Lord? Why are you doing this to me?
I don't deserve this. Let me bring my case before you
and I'll prove to you that I'm innocent. Isn't that the way
it is when things first happen? We might not know in faith that
this is something that the Lord has done. And yet as the sufferings
persist, often we're tempted in our hearts to hold God in
question of what He's doing. That's just our unbelief. It's our unbelief to ever say,
why me, Lord? It is the spirit of the unbelieving
Israelites in the wilderness. As they suffered the trials and
troubles of those 40 years in the wilderness, they often shook
their fist at God and they brought God's integrity into question
with Moses. And even Miriam and Aaron were
caught up in it and began to question God. Why us, Lord? What are you doing here? It is
the evidence of unbelief when we say to God, why me Lord, in
relationship to trials and troubles. Is this not the spirit of even
Martha at Bethany when the Lord Jesus Christ returned after Lazarus
had been in the tomb for four days and The first thing that
Martha said to the Lord, Lord, if you had been here, my brother
would not have died. Lord, this is your fault. Why didn't you do something?
Why? Why? Why don't you do something
about this? The Lord was merciful to reveal
himself to Martha as the resurrection and the life and to raise her
dead brother from the dead. But it is, This really is the
DNA of sin. It is to somehow presumptuously
think that we know better than God. And that if we could do
it our way, we could do a better job. How blasphemous. Is this not the evidence of unbelief? Man thinking that he's wiser
than God? And does this spirit of of rebellion
against God, not go back all the way to the garden. When the
Lord called for Adam, where art thou Adam? Again, the Lord's
not looking for Adam. He's exposing Adam to Adam. And what was the first thing
that Adam said? What was it? You know, a lot
of people read this and they think, well, Adam was blaming
his wife. No, he was blaming God. The woman which thou gavest
me, tempted me. She gave to me and I did eat."
This is the real spirit of unbelief for us to ever say, why me Lord,
in regard to the providence of God and the trials and troubles. And yet, it is the nature of
our sinful flesh. The other time that men would
say, in essence, why me, Lord, is when they hear of the gospel
of God's free grace in His sovereign election. This is what Paul was
talking about in Romans chapter 9. Turn with me there, if you
will, to Romans chapter 9. This is another time when the
unbeliever will stand in judgment of God, and make no mistake about
it, when a man in unbelief says, why me, Lord? Whether it be in
relationship to his trials and troubles or whether it be relationship
to the gospel of God's sovereign election, he is accusing God
of wrongdoing. standing in judgment of God,
putting himself on the throne of God. Look at Romans chapter
nine and we begin reading at verse at verse 18. I'm in Romans chapter eight.
I was wondering why that wasn't matching up. Okay. Romans chapter
9 beginning verse 18, therefore hath he mercy on whom he will
have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth thou wilt say then
unto me why doth he yet find fault for who hath resisted the
will of God How can God find fault in me
if I don't believe? Because you're saying that God
has elected a particular people according to his own will and
purpose before time ever began. So that takes me, that gets me
off the hook. It's all God's fault. In essence,
the unbeliever, when he hears the gospel, is saying, why me,
God? Why me, Lord? Look at the next
verse. Nay, but, O man, who art thou
that replies against God? Shall not the thing formed say
to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? You say, why
me, Lord? Why me, Lord? This is not fair.
This is not right. And unbelief pretends to be more,
to be more loving and more gracious and more virtuous than God. This
isn't fair that God would only save some. What about all the
people that he leaves to themselves? As if they would do a better
job and they would be more merciful than God. In reality, when men call into
question the sovereignty of God in salvation, You know you you hear people
say well does that mean that and they'll point to some famous
preacher that that means that he's in hell They never met the
man never knew him, but he preached a false gospel According to you
so that must mean that he's not saved when people talk like that. They're really not concerned
about that dead preacher They're concerned about themselves If
he wasn't saved and you're saying I'm not saved I And that's not
fair that God wouldn't give me a chance. In reality, men are trying to
protect themselves when they hear of God's sovereignty
in salvation. Now, that having been said, there
is an occasion Where, why me Lord, is not only the right response,
but it is the one response that demonstrates grace and faith. It is the one response that those
who have received the grace of God in Christ, at the first conclusion
they come to, why me? Why me? Why would you have mercy upon
one like me? I stand amazed before a holy
God that would save anyone, most especially the chief of sinners,
most especially an undeserving stranger like me. Now that was
Ruth's response, and I hope that it will be our response. As we
drink from that still water, I hope that it'll be our response
this morning. And I hope that we'll leave here
with, Lord, why would you have mercy upon me? Look at Ruth chapter
two at verse 10. Then, after Boaz had spoke to
her, you remember what Boaz said? My young men have drawn some
water from the river, they've dug some ditches and they've
made a little pond, and you go and you drink from that water
freely. They've been commanded not to
hurt you. And you are free to glean from
this field. And Ruth's response in verse
10, then she fell on her face and bowed herself to the ground
and said unto him, why have I found grace in thine eyes that thou
shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing that I am a stranger? Ruth was amazed. Out of all the
gleaners that may have been there, out of all the people that Boaz
could have taken notice of, that he took notice of her. Is this
not the appropriate response? Is this not the only response?
Is this not the right response? She said, I found grace in thine
eyes. and I'm amazed that you would
be gracious to me. Now, before we proceed, I want
to take just a moment to define grace. It's important that we
understand what grace is. We've defined grace as unmerited
favor, and certainly it is, but that's an understatement. Grace
is not just unmerited favor, it's demerited favor. We didn't
just not merit it, we did everything we could against it. And God in his mercy and grace
stopped us in our rebellion against him. And like Noah, we found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. We used to say that We made a
clever acronym out of the word grace, and we said that grace
means God's riches at Christ's expense. And I suppose there
is some truth to that. I know there is some truth to
it, but that doesn't tell the whole story. It doesn't really
define grace as saving grace is. Grace is only saving grace
if it is God's grace. It has to be God's grace. We
show grace towards one another. Some people are gracious. Some
people may have the name grace. But, you know, we're interested
in knowing what God's grace is because that's what Ruth is amazed
at. She's amazed at this man of wealth,
this mighty man of wealth by the name of Boaz. This man who
was able to redeem her would take notice of her and that she
would find grace in his sight. The first thing I want to say
about grace, God's grace, saving grace, is that it is eternal. It's eternal. It never had a
beginning and it can never have an end. We don't do something
to make God's grace happen. God's grace began If we could
use that word, which is really not a good word to use because
there was no beginning to it, but we can trace it back to the
eternal covenant of grace. Before there was any words like
began or sense or time, God's grace was established in the
covenant of grace. when the Lord Jesus Christ agreed
with his father to become the surety of his people. God chose
a particular people and put them in Christ. And God's grace hasn't
changed since then, and God's grace has no end. Listen to what the Lord tells
us in 2 Timothy 1, verse 9. If you'd like to turn there,
you can. I want you to pay special attention to the end of this
verse. 2nd Timothy chapter 1 verse 9,
who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling. Now notice
which comes first. The calling that he's referring
to here is our new birth, when the Spirit of God calls us out
of darkness into his marvelous light and gives to us faith to
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul referred to his experience
on the road to Damascus as a pattern for all men's calling. And he
arrested him and knocked him off his high horse and spoke
to him. That's the calling of God. It's really not accurate
to speak of when we came to Christ as when we got saved. You know,
we say that sometimes and you hear even believers will say,
well, you know, the Lord saved me here or there. No, he saved
you in the covenant of grace. in eternity past, He called you
in a particular point of time. In the fullness of time, Paul
said, when it pleased God, who had already separated me from
my mother's womb, He called me by His grace, and He revealed
Christ in me. So 2nd Timothy chapter 1 verse
9 says, He hath saved us, then He called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to His own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus, when? Before
the world began. Before time ever began. Before
the angels were created, before the stars were made, before we
see God according to His grace. So grace, in order to be God's
grace, in order to be saving grace, must be eternal grace. Grace is not grace that started
with something that we do. It has to be grace that was given
us in Christ Jesus before the world began. It's the only kind
of grace that'll save. So when Ruth says to Boaz, why
me? Why have I found grace in my
sight? Well, the answer is that God
in his purpose and in his grace, according to his sovereign will,
chose you. Not because of anything that
he saw in you, but he did it by his own will and purpose. That's the only kind of grace
that will save, is eternal grace. Secondly, in order for it to
be God's grace, in order to be saving grace, it must be free
grace. Free grace. It is not of him
that willeth, nor of him that runneth. It is of God that showeth
mercy. If grace doesn't come completely
free, If we have to throw in our two cents worth in order
to make what Christ did on Calvary's cross effectual, if we've got
to make a decision or perform a religious duty in order to
make it happen, it's not free. The only grace that will save
is free grace. When Ruth says to Boaz, why have
I found grace in thy sight? Here's the believer's heart.
Why me, Lord? Why would you choose me? Surely
you didn't look down through the quarters of time and see
something in me that made me stand out, and that's why you
chose me. That cannot be. You see, if you
know yourself and you see yourself for what you really are, you
can't even have that thought, can you? Why me, Lord? Why me, Lord? Why have I found
grace in thy sight? being justified freely, freely
by His grace. If we pay anything, anything
whatsoever for our salvation, it's not grace and it won't save. Thirdly, grace in order to be
grace must be sovereign grace. It must be sovereign grace. It's
God's grace. He will give it to whomsoever
He wills. Grace, the scripture says, reigns. That's why we come to the throne
of grace, that we might find mercy and help. Grace in our time of need. Grace in order to be grace. It
can't be manipulated. It can't be bought. It can't
be started. It's God's grace. Who is this grace for? It's for
those who see in themselves no reason whatsoever why God would
have mercy upon them. It's for those who cry from the
heart, why me Lord? Why would you show mercy toward
me? We saw in Colossians chapter
1 verse 21 a couple of weeks ago, and you, I'm taking this
from what Naomi referred to herself as in our text in Ruth chapter
2 at verse 10, for seeing, seeing that I'm a stranger. I have no
claim on the promises of God. That's for the Israelites. I'm
a Moabitist. I'm a stranger. I'm an alien.
And we often speak of believers as being pilgrims and aliens
and strangers in this world, which we are. Peter calls believers
that. But I'm speaking of being a stranger
before God. Being an alien before God. being
outside the commonwealth of Israel before God, being a Gentile. We looked Wednesday night at
1 Timothy 3, verse 16, where the Lord tells us, without controversy,
great is the mystery of godliness. And then he gives us six things
that define the mystery of godliness. The first one is that God was
manifested in the flesh. The second one is that he was
justified by the spirits. The third one is that he was
seen of angels. And the fourth one is that he
was preached to the Gentiles. Now a Gentile is a person who
is outside of the revelation of the gospel of God's grace. Do you see yourself having been
there? You had no claim on God. You're
a Gentile. I'm not talking about just ethnically
differing from a Jew. I'm talking about the biblical
meaning of a Gentile is that they are people cut off from
the revelation of the gospel. I'm a Gentile. I'm a stranger.
I'm an alien. I have no rights to the promises
of God which were given to Israel. Why would you have mercy upon
me? Why would you show me grace?
Why me, Lord? We're not shaking our fists at
heaven, complaining and thinking that we know better than God
about the providences of our lives or about the election of
God's grace in eternity past. We're talking about being called
out of darkness into his marvelous light. Lord, why would you show
mercy upon a dead dog like me? And so in Colossians chapter 1 verse
21, the Lord tells us, you who were sometimes, in other words,
in pastime, alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works. Now someone's thinking, You know,
I've not lived a wicked life. I've tried to be a good person.
I've tried to be honest and moral. You can look up that word wicked. I did. The word wicked means
full of labor. That's what it means. It means
full of labor. And here's something that describes
every person who is alienated from God. They believe in their
hearts that their works are somehow going to earn them favor with
God. And their view of salvation is a works-oriented gospel. They are full of labors. If I
could just do enough, if I can just avoid the wrong things and
be a good enough person, if I can somehow, you know, be above average,
I can... You who were sometimes alienated
and enemies in your mind by your labors. You see, the truth is
that the most wicked work of all It's not the things that men
consider to be shameful. And those things are wicked.
We don't want to advocate any of that. I'm not going to suggest
anything. I don't want to put it in your
mind. But the wicked works. The most wicked work that a man
can do before a holy God is to think that somehow he can offer
God something. that will obligate God to save
him. That is the most wicked work
that a man can do. That's why I've said in the past
and I'll say it again, God is much more offended by what happens
in brightly lit religious meeting houses on Sunday mornings than
he is offended by smoke-filled darkened rooms on Saturday nights.
He is. Why? Because men will stand in
meeting houses just like this and they will tell you what you
need to do in order to be right with God. You just pray this
prayer. Just live this way. You who were
sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by your wicked works. Now hath he reconciled by the
body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in his sight, in his sight. You see, here's the strangers.
Here's where every Ruth finds themselves. Why would you have grace upon
me? I have no claim to the promises of God. I was an alien. I was a stranger. You taking
me in? I had no access to the, to the
gospel. I had no right to it. I spent
all my life thinking that somehow if I just lived a good enough
life, I could work my way to heaven. The most wicked thing
I could ever do is deny Christ, His glory and salvation and take
upon me. I always had a problem with the
end of Solomon's life until the Lord showed me that
Like all the characters of scripture, Solomon is a picture of Christ.
The scripture says that Solomon had 700 wives. Now we know what the number seven
is. The number seven is the number
of perfection. It's a picture of the church, the bride of Christ. And he had 300 concubines, which
is a picture of the tares that live among the wheat. that concubines
not having the rights that the wife has. And the scripture says
that he loved them all. He loved it. Well, it doesn't
speak of that of his concubines. That statement is actually made
in reference to his wives, his 700 wives. He loved them all.
And the Bible tells us in 1 Kings 11 where these women came from.
They were Moabitess, They were Amorites, they were Edomites,
they were Canaanites, the people that God told Israel not to marry. And Solomon took these women
from all over the world and made them his wives and loved them. And the Bible says, this is the
problem that I believe, the Bible says that Solomon was led astray
by his wives. How could a believer be led to
build temples to false gods? He was led astray by his wives. Psalm 69 verse eight, David is
speaking prophetically of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says,
I have become a stranger unto my brethren and an alien unto
my people. mother's children. The Lord Jesus
Christ became a stranger and an alien. In marrying these foreign
wives and being led astray by them, if we could say it that
way, he was led to the cross because he bore their sins in
his body upon that tree. So how is it that aliens and
strangers can be reconciled to God? The man of peace, that's what
Solomon's name means. The Lord Jesus Christ became
an alien. He became a stranger. He married
strange women and he loved them all. And he bore their sins and
put them away. by the sacrifice of himself.
He was cut off from the land of the living. He was forsaken
of God. That's how Solomon's life ended. I stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus, the Nazarene, and wonder how he could love me a sinner
condemned and unclean. Oh, how marvelous. Oh, how wonderful. And my song shall ever be. Oh, how marvelous. Oh, how wonderful
is my Savior's love for me. Why me, Lord? Why me? Why would you bear my sins? I'm
a stranger. I'm an alien. I've got no rights. None whatsoever. The promises
of God were for Israel. Why would you take a pagan Moabitess
like me, who was robbing your son of his glory and salvation? And in my wicked mind, building
up a gospel of works thinking that somehow I could make myself
right with God. Why have I found grace in thy
sight? Isn't that what Mephibosheth said? You remember Mephibosheth.
What a glorious picture of a child of God, an elect child of God. When When David was made king
of Israel, and Saul and Jonathan were killed, Mephibosheth was a small boy,
a child, being carried by a nursemaid, and in their and their hurried
flee to save his life. Mephibosheth was the child of
Jonathan, the son of Jonathan. David loved Jonathan. And so Mephibosheth, this nursemaid,
in fear that David would kill Mephibosheth, which was the normal
thing to do, you get rid of all the descendants of the preceding
king so that you have no challenge to your throne. And she stumbles
and falls and the child falls and breaks both its legs and
they, of course, don't get healed properly, and so now he's living
in a place called Lodabar, where there is no, that word means
no pasture. You see, this is us, isn't it?
The king has every right to kill us because we are a threat to
his throne. We will raise our fist to heaven
and we'll say, why me, Lord? This isn't right, this isn't
fair. I stand in judgment of you. And he has every right. The law says execute him. And
so in our flee from God, we experience a fall and we end up being crippled
in both of our legs. And that's what happened with
our father Adam. And we're hiding out in a place
called Lodabar where there is no pasture, there's no bread,
there's no food, there's no light. Scared that the king's gonna
find us. And sure enough, years later,
the king says to his servant, Ziba, he says, after he established,
after David establishes his throne and everything's good now, there's
no threats. David says to Ziba, is there
anyone left, anyone at all left from the household of Saul that
I might show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? And here we have a picture of,
David, being God the Father, saying to the Holy Spirit, anyone
else out there that I can show kindness to, that I can show
grace to, that I can show mercy to, for Christ's sake? For Christ's
sake? And Ziba says, well, there's
a boy that's crippled in both his legs. He's living in Lodabar. And David said, fetch him. Fetch
him. And Ziba sends his soldiers to
Lodabar to get Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth's thinking, I've
been discovered. King's gonna, I'm the last one
left of the household of Saul. Sure he's gonna kill me. And
Ziba brings Mephibosheth to the castle. And David sees him. And David looks at his face and
David says, oh, Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth must've
looked like his father, Jonathan, as children often do. And David
saw the likeness of his father in the face of Mephibosheth,
and he loved him. And Mephibosheth, behold, thy
servant, Lord, I'm your servant. And David said to him, fear not.
For I will show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake. And Mephibosheth bowed himself
before David and said, what is thy servant that thou shouldest
look upon a dead dog as I? Now that's always the right response.
And if God has shown you His eternal, free, and sovereign
grace in Christ, that's your heart's response. Wow, I'm a
dead dog. I've raised my fist in rebellion
against God. Why would He show me kindness?
And the answer is here, for Jonathan's sake, for Christ's sake. He loved you with an everlasting
love. He died for you. He paid for your sins. By the
sacrifice of himself, he made you holy and unblameable and
unreprovable in God's sight. That's why, nothing in you, nothing
in you. Peter was amazed. that the Lord would show any
mercy at all toward him. When Peter saw the Lord after
the resurrection at the Sea of Galilee, he fell at his feet
and said, depart from me for I'm a sinful man. Why would you
show mercy upon me? Look at what I've done. Abigail. You remember Abigail
and Nabal? Nabal's name means fool, and
Abigail was married to a fool, and you and I were married to
a fool. And Nabal, the foolish man, her foolish husband, would
not show any kindness towards David. And so David determines
he's going to wipe Nabal out and his whole clan. And Abigail
runs out, and she falls on her feet before King David. And she
pleads for his mercy. She confesses that she's not
worthy. She asked for his mercy and for his grace. Why would
I show? Why should I find grace in thy
sight? That's what she asked. You see,
it's always the response of grace. It's always the response of grace.
Why me, Lord? Why me? The world knows nothing
about this. Those outside of God's grace
know nothing about it. They think God owes them salvation.
They think that God wants to save everybody and that they
hold the trump card and that they get to decide when God gets
to have his way. If grace is eternal, if it is
sovereign, if it is free, and if we have received it in Christ
Jesus, our response will be the same as Ruth, it'll be same as
Mephibosheth, it'll be same as Peter, it'll be same as everyone
who's ever received the grace of God. Why me, Lord? Why me? Out of all the people, surely
there's a lot more virtuous people than I am. Surely there's people
that are that it'd be better servants than I am. It'd be more
faithful than I've been. Why would you show mercy upon
me? Is that your response? Go back with me to our text.
I want you to see something here. She fell on her face. This is a picture of worship.
Worship. This is what those who cry, why
me Lord, do. It's what they do. They worship. They kiss the hand that saved
them. They bow. prostrate before the
Lord, and they offer worship. You know, you'll only worship
a sovereign. This is so important that we
understand this. Men who do not believe that God
is sovereign in salvation, which makes up the majority, well,
all of the world except for believers. Men don't believe that God's
sovereign in salvation. They think that they've got some
contribution to make and that God was obligated to respond
to what they do. And so men who have a God like
that meet all over the world and they feign worship. They pretend to be worshiping
God when in their heart of hearts they do not believe that the
God that they're worshiping is sovereign. They're just going
through some religious acts in hopes that that too will obligate
God to save them. You see, true worship only takes
place if your God is absolutely sovereign. He holds your life
in his hands. He can do with you whatsoever
he wills. You are, if he so pleases, hell
deserving. You are completely dependent
upon him for everything in your life. Now that's when worship
happens. She bowed herself before him. She knew that her life was in
Boaz's hands. She knew that there was no reason
in herself, being a stranger, why he should show grace toward
her. Completely dependent. That's
what worship is. A leper came to the Lord Jesus
Christ one time and said this, Lord, I know that thou canst
heal me if thou wilt. You know what most people think?
I know God wants to save me. And if I'll just do what he's
obligating me to do, then he'll be able to save me. That's not
a sovereign. That's not God. That's a figment
of men's imagination. It is an idol, isn't it? It's
an idol. You see, true worship is expressed. Why me, Lord? And it bows, it
bows in worship, a worship that is given by God, a worship that
is done according to the truth of the gospel and in the power
of the spirit of God. That woman, that woman, the Canaanite
woman that the Lord called a dog. Remember the disciples ignored
her. And then they spoke to the Lord and they tried to encourage
the Lord to send her away. And then the Lord ignored her
and she's begging for mercy. And most people at that point
would say, well, if that's the way you think about me, then
just forget it. No. To make things all the worse,
the Lord looked at her and said, it's not right that I should
give the children's bread to dogs. She's a stranger. She's a Gentile. She's outside
of the covenant of grace. She's outside of the commonwealth
of Israel. And what was her response? What
was her response? Truth, Lord. And you know what
the next verse is? And she worshiped him. She worshiped
him. She fell at his feet. And she
gave to him, she ascribed to him all glory and all praise
and all honor, and she worshiped him. This is the spirit of grace. It always worships. Why? Because it's always unworthy. It's always undeserving. It's
always by God's grace. So she bowed down and she said,
she said, why would you take knowledge of me? You see that in our text? She
fell on her face and bowed herself to the ground and said unto him,
why have I found grace in thine eyes at that thou shouldest take
knowledge of me? Why have you acknowledged me? In Genesis chapter 27, Rebecca, I'm sorry, yes, Rebecca is deceiving, is
taking part in the deception of her husband, Jacob, by providing a way for Jacob, I'm
sorry, Isaac, Rebecca is married to Isaac,
forgive me. Rebecca is taking part in deceiving
her husband Isaac, who is now an old man and blind. And Rebecca,
you remember, is the one who had two children, Jacob and Esau. And Jacob now is in cahoots with
his mother, Rebecca, to deceive Isaac to rob Esau, who was the
firstborn, of his birthright. Do you remember that? And so, Rebecca fixes the meal that Isaac
likes. And Esau's out hunting wild game. And she takes skins from an animal
and puts the skin on Jacob's arm and puts the skin around
Jacob's neck. And she sends Jacob into his
father, his blind father, Isaac's presence to give him this meal
and to get the birthright blessing. The picture of salvation from
Isaac. Now, I see myself right now as
Rebecca. And I'm telling you how it is
that you need to approach God. And so Isaac thinks that it's
Esau. And Isaac says to Jacob, come
near to me. And he smells him. And he says,
the smell is that of Esau. And then he touches his arm and
he said, because Esau was a hairy man and Jacob was a smooth man,
the scripture says. And so he feels the hair and
he says, feels like Esau, smells like Esau. But the voice is that
of Jacob. And here's the verse that I want
to get to. And he discerned him not. This word knowledge, that's the
first place where it's found in the scripture. Why would you
take knowledge of me? Why would you take notice of
me? Why would you discern me as one
to whom you would show mercy and to whom one you would show
grace? Because you go before your heavenly
father in the name of another. You go before your Isaac in the
name of your elder brother. And you let him, your father,
feel him and smell him. You let the sweet savor of his
sacrifice on Calvary's cross go before God for you. And you offer to him that savory
meat that he likes. What is that meat? That meat
is the body of Christ. I say to you as Jacob, as Rebecca
said to Jacob, go before Isaac in the name of your elder brother
and your father will receive you. He will not discern you
to be any different than your brother. And because of that,
he will bless you. That's the answer as to why God
would take knowledge of us. And that's the only reason. We
go before the throne of grace in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, confident, boldly to find help in our time of need. And we walk away amazed, amazed
that we would be taken knowledge of and that we would find grace
in his eyes. I stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus, the Nazarene. Number 452, 452. Oh, let's sing
this from the heart. Offer it as an expression of
our worship and praise to God. Scott, you come please. Number
452. I stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus the Nazarene, and wonder how he could love me, a sinner
condemned on How marvelous, how wonderful,
and my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful
is my Savior's love for me. For me it was in the garden he
prayed, not my will but thine. He had no tears for his own griefs,
but sweat drops of blood for mine. How marvelous, how wonderful,
and my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful
is my Savior's love for me. In pity angels beheld him and
came from the world of light To comfort him in the sorrows
he bore for my soul that night ? How marvelous, how wonderful
? ? And my song shall ever be ? ? How marvelous, how wonderful
? ? Is my Savior's love for me ? He took my sins and my sorrows,
he made them his very own. He bore the burden to Calvary,
and suffered and died alone. How marvelous, how wonderful,
and my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful,
is my Savior's love for me. When with a ransomed in glory
His face I at last shall see, It will be my joy through the
ages To sing of His love for me. How marvelous, how wonderful,
and my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful
is my Savior's love for me. so