all glorious above and gratefully
sing his power and his love our shield and defender the ancient
of faith a million Oh, sing of His praise! His robe is alive, His canopy
stays, His chariot of refugee Thunder clouds fall, And dark
is His death o'er the range of It screams from the hills, it
descends to the plain and evil as thread. In thee do we trust, nor by need
to fail. Thy mercies, how tender, how
firm to the end. Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer,
and Friend. Let's open our Bibles together
to Psalm 19. Psalm 19. I want us to pray tonight for
our friends and brethren in India. Things are much worse over there
than what you're hearing on the news from what I hear directly
from the people that are on the ground. There's a lot of people
dying. Everybody knows somebody close
to them that has died. And they don't have any oxygen. I spent half the day today looking
for an oxygen concentrator. People buy those and use them
at the end of life, and then they've got them left over. If
you know anybody that's got an oxygen concentrator, FedEx can
guarantee it to get to where it needs to be in India in four
days. It's expensive, but we're going to send that to them. Gilbert said there's a lot of
fear in the country, but the believers, he said, you know,
men are fearing something they can't see, they don't fear God. But they do need that. We'll
try to provide that for them. Psalm 19, and we'll begin reading
at verse 11. The law of the Lord is perfect,
converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is
sure, making wise the simple. Just to remind you, the law and
the testimony and the precepts and all the other terms that
are used in this passage are speaking of the revelation of
scripture given us of Christ. So the end of these things is
the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Did I say Psalm
19? Okay. Verse eight, the statutes of
the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of
the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord
is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are
true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than
gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey on the
honeycomb. Moreover, by them is thy servant warned, and in
keeping of them is their great reward. Who can understand his
errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from
presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over
me. Then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent from the
great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and
the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord,
my strength and my redeemer. Let's pray together. Lord, we're reminded. Of what
you've told us in your word that when we were yet without strength,
Christ died for the ungodly. We come into thy holy presence
with the Lord Jesus Christ is our only strength. Lord, we know
that when we are weak, then we are strong. For your strength
is made perfect in our weakness. Lord, we pray that you would
take your law, your testimony, your precepts, your commandments
and reveal to us the glory of Christ and give to us that gift
of faith enabling us to look to him and to rest in him and
to love him and believe on him. For truly the Lord Jesus Christ
is our life. Lord, we pray for our friends
and for our brethren in India, and we pray that you would comfort
them and protect them and keep them, and Lord, that you would
enable us to help them in any way that we can. Remind us to
pray for them. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Number 185, in your hardback,
you remain seated. Number 185, glorious things of
thee are spoken. 185. He whose word cannot be broken,
for me, for his, for mine. Ages down in mourning shade,
thy true repose With salvation's walls surrounded, thou mayest
smile on it See the strains of living waters,
Springing from eternal love. Help supply God's sons and daughters,
And all fear of one renew. Who can thank you, such a favor,
Ever flows the earth to spate Grace which, like the Lord, the
Giver Ever is coming to end Round each heaven, nation, country
See the cloud and heart showing that the Lord is here.
Glorious Savior, we are spoken. Zion's safety of our God. He
whose work cannot be broken. For the euphoria Let's open our Bibles to Psalm
138. Psalm 138. We'll begin reading in verse
4. All the kings of the Earth shall praise the Oh Lord. When. They. Here. That's the title of this message,
When They Hear. How do we know if we've heard? We've heard from God. In this passage, the rest of
these verses tell us, All the kings of the earth shall praise
thee, O Lord, when they hear the words 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
hath he respect unto the lowly, but the proud he knoweth afar
off. Though I walk in the midst of
trouble, thou wilt revive me. Thou shalt stretch forth thy
hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall
save me. The Lord will perfect that which
concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever. Forsake not the works of thy
hands. Scripture says that the hearing
ear is of the Lord. The kings of the earth, when
they hear, how dependent we are on the Lord to open our ears
and enable us to hear his voice. He said, my sheep hear my voice
and they follow me. I heard a story about a shepherd
that took a group of people and he taught them the names of his
sheep and he taught them how he calls his sheep. And he took
them out into the pasture and he gave each one of them an opportunity
to repeat what he does in calling his sheep. And the sheep never
looked up. They never even looked up. And
as soon as the shepherd spoke, they all came running. What a picture that we don't
hear the voice of a false prophet, another shepherd they will not
hear. We hear the voice of the good shepherd, the great shepherd,
the shepherd of our souls. The shepherd that David spoke
of when he said, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in
want of anything. He provides for me everything
that I need. This passage of scripture tells
us how we can tell if we've heard, if we've heard. How many times we read in the
book of Revelation, he that hath an ear to hear, hears what the Spirit says unto
the churches. And so the Lord gives us that
ear. Turn back with me to the book
of Proverbs, just back a few pages forward, I'm sorry. Proverbs chapter four. Proverbs
chapter four. And we'll begin reading at verse
19. In Proverbs chapter 4, the way
of the wicked is as darkness. They know not of what they stumble. My son, attend to my words. Incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine
eyes. Keep them in the midst of thine heart, for they are
life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Oh, the Lord's admonishing us.
He's telling us to listen, to hear. And yet the very thing
that he commands of us, just like with faith and just like
in coming to Christ and just like everything else that he
commands, he has to provide. And so as we hear these admonitions
given to us to listen and to hear and to follow in our hearts,
we're at the same time saying, Lord, give me an ear to hear.
enable me to follow after you." The Lord Jesus said, the words
that I speak unto you, they are spirit, they're spiritual. And only those that are of the
spirit can understand the things of God. They that are of the
flesh cannot understand, they cannot hear the things of God. So the Lord said, the words that
I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. So apart from
these words, there's no life. We are left in our sins lest
the Lord gives us ears to hear. I think about Saul of Tarsus.
Saul says that he was trained by Gamaliel. He was excelled
above all his peers. He was a Pharisee of Pharisees.
I'm sure that Saul of Tarsus had much of God's Word committed
to memory. And Saul of Tarsus heard the
gospel preached from a man, I mentioned recently that I'm a dying man
preaching to dying men, and that's so true, but Saul of Tarsus,
you remember, heard the gospel preached to him from a man who
was literally dying. and heard that man in his dying
breath say, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And yet
he continued to breathe out threatenings against the church. None of what
he had experienced had changed his heart until the Lord spoke
to him. and put him in the dirt. And
what came out of Saul's mouth? Lord, what would you have me
to do? So all of those things that he had experienced, he had
not heard from God. Oh, I want to hear. I want to
hear from the Lord. I want him to speak to me. And I so want to. to know Him and to believe Him.
And if He does, it'll come by hearing. Faith comes by hearing,
and hearing comes by the Word of God. So here in our text,
the Lord tells us in Psalm 138 that all the kings of the earth
shall praise Thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of Thy mouth. There's no words like His words,
are there? Man's words Oh, they cannot compare to God's words.
When a man speaks, we have to take into consideration what
we know to be true based on our own knowledge, and we weigh his
words carefully by what we know the truth is. We have to take
into consideration his character and his sincerity. And we even
take into consideration his body language, don't we, in order
to discern the truthfulness of what he's being said, of what
he's saying. None of that's necessary when it comes to hearing from
God. When the Lord gives you ears to hear, you just believe
everything that God says. What a comfort. What simplicity
there is in just knowing that the Lord is speaking, every word
that he speaks is true and faithful. And in his words are life. Notice in verse four, all the
kings of the earth. Now, what is a king? The king
in biblical times, and in some places I'm sure in the world
today, would be a self-ruled man. A king is a man who submits
to no authority. He's self-ruled. He has, he's
sovereign and he's omnipotent in terms of the worldly things.
He's autonomous. he does his own thing. Now that's
what we are by nature. By nature, until God speaks,
in our hearts, we're not interested in what he has to say. And if
he does say something, we say, I'm not going to have that man
reign over me. And yet here we have the picture of a king bowing
to a greater sovereign. What a picture of the new birth.
Here's how we know. It's how we know if we've heard. We've bowed. We've bowed. We've just submitted. We've put away our self-rule,
and we've come to believe that we're not really in control like
we thought we were. We're not in control of our circumstances. We're certainly not in control
of our salvation. I think of that centurion that
came to the Lord to heal his servant. And what did that centurion
say? He said, Lord, I'm a man under
authority. I'm a man of authority. And I
say to this servant, go, and he goes. And I say to another,
come, and he comes. And I know authority. And I'm not worthy that you should
come into my house. Only speak the word, and my servant
shall be healed. Now, here's a man who understood
something about authority. Here's a king. Here's a man of
great power, of an independent spirit, who is bowing to the
greater authority of the Lord Jesus Christ and saying, your
word, your word has power. Lord, if you just speak, it'll
happen. It'll happen. That's one of the ways we know that God has spoken to us where
We're no longer self-ruled. We're under the authority of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and we bow to everything he says. We
just respond with truth, Lord, whatever it is. So notice now,
all the kings of the earth shall praise thee. Now men by nature,
prefer the praise of men over the praise of God. Men are not
interested in praising God. Oh, they'll feign worship. They'll
pretend to be praising God. But this is a grace, a work of
grace in the heart to where he's exalted and he's lifted up. And
we think of what Paul said in Philippians when he said, let
this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. who did
not count it to be robbery to be equal with God, but made of
himself no reputation. And he praised his father. And the father highly exalted
him and gave him a name, which is above every name. And so that
at that name, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess. We find ourselves bowing and
confessing that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only one worthy
of praise and worship and honor. He has spoken. When they hear,
when the kings hear, they will bow and they will praise. They will ascribe to the Lord
Jesus Christ all glory and all honor and all worship for having
done all things well. They just do. Turn with me to
the book of Revelation chapter 19. Revelation chapter 19. This is how we know that if we've
heard from God and when they hear, when the kings of the earth
hear, they bow, they praise, they give glory and honor and
worship. Look at Revelation chapter 19
at verse four. And the four and 20 elders, Now,
the four and 20 elders, that's 24 elders, and that's a number
representing the entire church, the 12 tribes of Israel in the
Old Testament, the sons of Jacob, and the 12 apostles in the New
Testament, upon which the foundation of the church is built. And so
this 24 represents all believers, all for whom God has spoken and
called out by name, from the Old Testament and in the New
Testament, the entire church. the 20 and four elders, and the
four beasts. Now in the earlier chapters of
Revelation, the four beasts are acknowledged as those seraphim
that Isaiah saw in Isaiah chapter six, who had six wings and they
hovered over the throne of God and cried, holy, holy, holy is
the Lord God of hosts. So here we have the angelic host
and the entire church surrounding the throne of God and worshiping
him. This is where we're going to
spend eternity. And this is what God does in
our hearts when he gives us ears to hear the truth of who he is
and what he's done now, anticipating that day when we'll be able to
do it perfectly. So the four and 20 elders and
the four beasts fell down and worshiped God that sat on the
throne saying, amen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, praise God. And a voice came out of the throne
saying, praise our God, all ye servants, and ye that fear him,
both small and great. And I heard as it were the voice
of a great multitude and the voice of many waters and the
voice of mighty thundering saying, hallelujah for the Lord God omnipotent
reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice and
give honor to him for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his
wife has made herself ready And how do we make ourselves ready?
Well, he makes us ready, doesn't he? He gives us, he's gonna talk
about that in the very next verse, he gives us the righteousness
of Christ. Look what he says in verse eight.
And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen,
clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of
the saints. It's the righteousness of Christ.
They've had their robes washed in the blood of the lamb. They've heard from God. God has
spoken to their hearts. God has caused them to bow in
worship, to relinquish the authority that they once had over their
own lives, or they thought they had. their imaginary authority. We know that the Lord Jesus Christ
has been made Lord over the living and over the dead. And even before
we bowed, he was still reigning sovereign over us. But what a
difference it is to be made willing in the day of his power and rejoice
in that sovereign authority that he has over his people. Oh, here's
how we know we've heard. Here's how we know. Go back with
me to our text. All the kings of the earth shall
praise thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of thy mouth. You and I both know that we're
full of pride, and we're full of rebellion, and we're full
of resistance, and there's still that old man that would stand
up against God. But notice the last phrase in
this verse, when they hear the words of his mouth. I'm talking
about right now. I'm talking about right now.
And when God speaks to you, Whether it be in your private devotion
or whether it be at your circumstances or whether it be in your time
of reflection or whatever it is, when God speaks, this is
what happens. When they hear the words of his
mouth, this is what happens. When you caught up in the things
of this world and not hearing the word of God, then there's
no telling how we might feel or how we might act. But when
they hear the words of his mouth, this is what happens. They bow,
they praise, they worship, they acknowledge, they give him honor
and glory. for knowing that he does all
things well and he's working all things together for their
good. And he's accomplished everything
that God requires for them. He's given them that robe of
righteousness that they might stand in the presence of God
and have acceptance in Christ. And that's how, when you hear
the word of God, and this is, If you've ever heard,
truly heard, one time, then you're going to continue to hear, aren't
you? the gifts of God are without repentance. God doesn't just
give us an opportunity to hear and engage in true, sincere,
spiritual worship and then withdraw from us that hearing ear. Once he stops the ear and enables
us to hear, we continue to hear, continue to hear. Look at verse five. Yea, they
shall sing in the ways of the Lord. Psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs and making melody in their heart. This is, when you hear,
I'm talking about when you're hearing. You can go periods of
time without hearing the voice of God, but when you're hearing
from God, this is what wells up in the heart. It's a spirit of rejoicing. And
it's a, It's a state of grace in the heart. Public worship
is part of it, but public worship, what we're doing right now, it
can only be meaningful to us and honoring to the Lord if he's
already done a work of grace in our hearts, enabling us to
worship him from the heart. The quality of our worship here,
has a lot to do with the quality of our worship in private, doesn't
it? We come together in order to be able to, there's an effect that our private
worship has when we join our voices and our hearts together
in public worship. This is what happens. This is
what happens when God gives you an ear to hear. Have you had
this experience? This is faith. It's what it is. It's the work
of grace in the heart. Yea, they shall sing in the ways
of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord. You know you've
heard from God when you dare not rob from him any glory in
your salvation. You perish the thought of denying
Him His glory in what He did in putting you in the covenant
of grace, chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world,
and what He did in the work of redemption on Calvary's cross,
bearing all your sins, and satisfying the demands of God's justice.
And what he did in presenting himself to God, not just for
your justice, but for all of your righteousness, you would
not try to add anything to that. No, I've heard from God. I'm not gonna deny Christ his
glory or rob from him any of his glory. I have no contribution
in this thing. You're certainly not going to
take from him his glory in the work of the new birth and regeneration. You'll check on that for me,
please. Thank you. It's okay. I don't know what's going on
out there. We'll see. You know that When you believed
on the Lord Jesus Christ, that that didn't have anything to
do with you. You know, it was the Lord that unstopped your
ears. It was the Lord that gave you faith. It was the Lord that
made you willing. That work of regeneration was
a work of the Spirit of God and He gets all the glory. This is
how we know we've heard from Him. And those who would deny
Christ His glory in any part of their salvation, including
sanctification, We know there are those who would
say, well, yeah, God is everything in election and in regeneration. But when it comes to sanctification,
I need to make my contribution. And they rob Christ of his glory
in their life of faith, pretending to become more and more holy
based on their own personal obedience and their own personal walk.
And they compete with one another. They haven't heard from God.
They've not heard from God. You know you've heard from God
when Christ gets all the glory for all of your salvation, every
bit of it. If you're going to be taken into
glory and spend eternity with him, he's going to have to keep
you from falling. He's going to have to present
you faultless before the throne of God. He's going to have to
be all of your righteousness and all of your sanctification
and all of your wisdom and all of your redemption before God. When the kings of the earth hear
from the voice of God, this is what happens. This is what happens. Look at verse six. Though the
Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly. When you hear
from the voice of God, you're made to be a sinner. You're put
in the dust. You know you have no righteousness.
You know you have no right. You know you have no claim on
God. He humbles the kings of the earth. And he makes them
completely dependent upon Christ. Look what he says. Though the
Lord be high, yet he have respect for the lowly, but the proud,
the proud. Oh, he knoweth them a law far
off. I mentioned Saul of Tarsus a
few minutes ago. He had to be made humble. Oh, he's a proud man. breathing
out threatenings, letters from the high priest, man of great
power and authority, intimidating everybody anywhere he went. And
now he's blind and having to be led by his servants and having
to hear the gospel from Ananias and what a transformation that
the Lord did. Here's what made the difference. He heard from the voice of God.
And all those things that he thought were game to him, all
of his education and all of his presumed, pretended righteousness,
he now counts it as dung that he might win Christ. Oh, that's
what it is to be made humble, isn't it? It's to put down your
sword against God. It's to have your swords beaten
into plowshares and your your spears into pruning forks. It's
to go from being a warrior against God to being a farmer planting
the seeds of the gospel and doing all you can to encourage the
growth of grace in God's people. What a difference. He gives grace
to the humble. He resists the proud. What did
Job say after the Lord spoke? I know I use Job a lot, but he's
such a powerful example of salvation. when Job was charging God with
wrongdoing for what had happened in his life. And after the Lord
spoke to Job, Job said, surely I spoke without knowledge, but
now I abhor myself and I repent in dust and ashes. He said, I'm
Bio. I didn't know what I was talking
about. That's what happens when God speaks, isn't it? So what
happens? When Isaiah heard from the voice
of God, he cried, woe is me. You read the first five chapters
of the book of Isaiah and Isaiah was this fiery, preacher of judgment
against Israel for their sin. And then in chapter six, when
he, when God speaks to him, he says, Oh, what was me? I'm a
man of unclean lips. I live among the people. I'm
undone. My eyes have seen the King. I'm going to, he was made
lowly, wasn't he? Here's how we know. Here's how
we know. We've heard from God. Ezekiel
said they shall loathe themselves for their abomination. We know
we've heard from God when we have a hatred for our sin and we look upon him whom we have
pierced and we mourn after him as one mourneth for his only
son. We see what it cost our Lord in love and sacrifice to
put away our sin. What a difference. What a difference. When God speaks, how offensive arrogance is. You're offended by it when you
see it in others, aren't you? And you're offended by it mortally
when you see it in yourself, aren't you? We can be pretentious with one
another, we can be arrogant and impatient and ugly with one another,
but not when God speaks. No, you can't bear that spirit,
not in the presence of God. So here's how I know. When God
speaks, He humbles me. He makes me to be a sinner. He
makes me to be completely dependent upon Him. I can't charge Him
with any wrongdoing. I can't justify my behavior. I'm completely dependent upon
Him for His grace. What a beautiful thing that is
when the Lord makes us to be sinners. Verse six, though the Lord be
high, I know how high he is. Here's how we know we've heard
from God. A person who's heard from the voice of God cannot
hear Christ preached high enough. They cannot hear themselves preached
low enough. And they cannot hear grace preached
free enough. That's how we know we've heard
from God. That's not what the, the person who's not heard from
God, they want to bring God down to where they are and justify themselves and glory
in their accomplishments and in their works and in their free
will. Here's how we know, the kings of the earth, when they
hear his voice, they're humbled. They're made to be sinners. They're
completely dependent upon the Lord. And look at verse seven,
though I walk in the midst of trouble, there has been no trouble. There's been no trouble that
any man or any group of men have ever suffered in this world like
the trouble that the Lord Jesus Christ bore on Calvary's cross. And we can see in every one of
these verses where the Lord is calling out to his father, where
he's being made humbled by sin and by his circumstances. Though
I walk in the midst of trouble, as he bore in his body the sins
of his people, as he suffered the fury of God's wrath for all
the sins of all of God's people, as he was forsaken of his father,
as he was denied of his friends, and as he hung there suspended
between heaven and earth all alone, putting away the sins
of his people by the sacrifice of his own. No one ever knew
trouble like that. Oh, brethren, when you experience
trouble and you go before our God, he is not unable to sympathize
with our weaknesses. He knows we have a high priest
who has suffered so much more than what we would ever think
or know anything about. And he suffers with his people
so that he's full of mercy and loving kindness, and we may not
fear go before him, take our knees before him. Cast, he said,
all to your care upon me, for I care for you. What a glorious
God we serve. And here's what he's saying.
Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me. How do I know I've heard from
God? I've got no place to go in my
time of trouble than to the Lord Jesus Christ. Men can help me
with my temporal needs. They may speak a word of encouragement
to me, but the only real encouragement that comes from the voice of
a man is when that man points me to Christ. That's the only
real encouragement. Whatever sympathy we have for
one another or whatever encouragement we try to give to one another
falls far short of our need in time of trouble. But when we're
able to comfort one another with the comfort wherewith we've been
comforted, by pointing one another to Christ who is our comfort
and is our help. What encouragement that is and
what hope we have. So here's how I know I can't
go anywhere else to be revived, to be quickened, to find life
and hope and encouragement in my time of trouble than to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, but when I'm able to go to
him, when I'm able to go with him, especially for the forgiveness
of my sin, listen to what John said in first John chapter four.
Herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in
the day of judgment. Okay. Herein. Now the next verse
is going to answer this. Herein is our love. made perfect that we may have
boldness in the day of judgment for as he is, so are we in this
world. That's where we have boldness
in the day of judgment. We have boldness in the day of
judgment, knowing that as he is, so are we. That we, that
robe of righteousness that we just read about in Revelation
chapter 19 is given to us so that the bride is made ready.
And herein is our love made perfect. Turn with me to first, second
Corinthians chapter four, second Corinthians chapter four. Here's how I know I've heard
from God. When I find myself in trouble, the waters are rising. My sin is ever before me. My
circumstances are beyond my control. Everything is hard and difficult. Here it is, 2 Corinthians chapter
four. I've got no place else to go.
Verse six, for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
hath shined in our hearts. The earth was without form and
void and darkness was upon the face of the deep. Now that was
the beginning of creation. And that's exactly what happened
spiritually. When we find ourselves in darkness
and without form and void and confusion, the Lord says, let
there be light. Let there be light. Only when
I'm able to come to Him can I find the light of the gospel shining
in our hearts. He is shining in our hearts to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. So the face of Jesus Christ reveals
to us the knowledge of the glory of God. He gets all the glory. Here's how we know we've heard
from God. The Lord gets all the glory to the praise of the glory
of his grace. Look at the next verse. But we
have this treasure in earthen vessels. Oh, what a vessel of
clay we are. What trouble, what problems we
have in this old man. We have this treasure. The treasure is the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, shined
in our hearts by the light of the gospel. That's the treasure. That's the gospel. That's our
hope. And yet it's in an earthen vessel.
Why? that the excellency of the power
might be of God and not of us. Again, the Lord has humbled us. We didn't have anything to do
with this. He did it all. And Lord, if you don't keep me,
if you don't keep oil in the lamp and keep the fire burning
and keep the wind of the spirit blowing on me, I'll fall away. We are troubled on every side. Yet not distressed. Oh, we have
trouble. But in our trouble, in our trouble,
we're revived when we hear his word. We are troubled on every side,
yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in
despair. That word despair means to be
without hope. We're confused, we're perplexed.
We don't know what's happening or what's going to happen, but
we're not without hope because we know that what's happening,
he's doing it. And he's going to work all things
together for good for them that love him. We are persecuted,
but not forsaken, cast down, but not destroyed. always bearing
about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life
also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal bodies. And these
corruptible bodies are gonna be made incorruptible one day.
And all these trials and troubles, what does Revelation say? No
more tears, no more sorrow, no more death, for all things are
made new. All things are made new. That's
how I know I've heard from God. I'm not without hope. Not without
hope. Go back with me to Psalm 138. We are walking brethren through
the valley of the shadow of death. And what did David say? I will
fear no evil for thy rod and thy staff. They do comfort me. Your word, your promises, they
are my comfort. Look at verse seven, here's how
I know. Here's how I know I'm hearing from God. Though I walk
in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me. I'm revived,
I'm encouraged, I'm hopeful. Even though I'm in trouble. You
know, it's like we saw Sunday. The Lord uses the trouble that
we're in to change us, doesn't he? And oftentimes he doesn't
change our trouble until he changes us. And so we're looking to him
in our time of trouble for faith and grace and hope and love and
all the weightier matters, the spiritual things, the things
that we cannot do without. Though I walk in the midst of
trouble, thou wilt revive me. Thou shalt stretch forth thy
hand against the wrath of mine enemies." And that's exactly what he did
on Calvary's cross. He destroyed the works of the
devil. He defeated death. He opened the grave. He led captivity
captive. He took the sting out of death.
He fulfilled the law of God. He destroyed all of our enemies,
sin, Satan, death, hell, the grave. It's
all been destroyed. And that's how I know I've heard
from God. We know we have the Spirit of God because the Spirit
of God, He makes us to be sinners. When the Spirit of God comes,
He will He will convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and
of judgment. Of sin, because they believe
not on me. Lord, there was a time. You know,
our greatest enemy is unbelief. Lord, there was a time I couldn't
believe. I had no interest in believing. I wasn't able to believe. And you defeated that enemy.
With your strong right hand, you defeated the enemy of unbelief,
and you gave me faith. You cause me to believe every
word that you've spoken. What hope? It's how I know I've
heard from God. and of righteousness because
I go to my father. The Lord Jesus Christ is seated
at the right hand of God. And the word of God did not return
void. He took with him the names of
everyone he lived and died for. And we are in the heavenlies
right now in Christ Jesus, seated at the right hand of God. For
as he is, so are we right now in this world. Oh, here's how
I know I've heard from God. and of judgment because the prince
of this world has been judged. There's nothing left to be done
for him to be judged and cursed. That was accomplished on Calvary's
cross. The battle was fought and won
on the cross of Calvary. What hope? Here's how I know.
I've heard from God. I've heard from his word. And
we lose sight of these things, and we forget these things, and
these things are not our hope. But then God speaks again. As
I'm hoping he's doing right now at our hearts, he speaks again.
And he revives our soul in our time of trouble. And he brings
us to himself again. Look at the last verse. You see, I know I've heard the
voice of God when I'm looking to Christ to defeat my enemy. I'm looking to Christ to put
away my sin. I'm looking to Christ to defeat
Satan. I'm looking to Christ to open the grave. I'm looking
to Christ and his accomplished work of redemption for all my
salvation. And in verse eight he says, the
Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. He will perfect
it. And that's exactly what he's
doing. Oh, he's preparing us for glory. And the law can't
perfect us. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
10 and we'll close. Hebrews chapter 10. By one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified, those that are set apart, those
that are made holy. He has perfected them. Look at
Hebrews chapter 10. Verse one, for the law having
a shadow of a good things to come and not the very image of
the things can never with those sacrifices which they offered
year by year continually make the comers there unto perfect. No amount of sacrifice, no amount
of offering can perfect us in the sight of God. And that's
what God requires. He requires perfection. He was
settled for nothing less. Nobody said, well, I'm doing
the best I can. Well, that's not good enough. Not good enough. God requires perfection. And the law cannot make us perfect.
Look at verse 2. For then would they not have
ceased to be offered, because that the worshipers once purged
should have no more conscience of sin? If the law was sufficient
to put away our sin, then then that would have been sufficient
in and of itself. But in those sacrifices there
is a remembrance, again, made of sins every year. For it is
not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away
sin. Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice
and offerings thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared
for me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast
no pleasure. Then, said I, lo, I come, in
the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will,
O God." And that's exactly what he did. He did the will of God. And he perfected forever. them
that are set apart, made holy and sanctified. That's why the
Lord was able to pray in John 17 when he said, I in them and
thou in me that they may be made perfect in one. I know I've heard
from God when I understand that God requires perfection And in
order for me to be perfect, I'm gonna have to be found in Christ,
not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is by faith, the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord will perfect that which
concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever. Look at the very last phrase
of verse eight. Here's our continual prayer.
Lord, forsake not the works of thine own hands. Lord, look to
Christ on my behalf. Remember me when you enter into
your kingdom. Lord, I'm in trouble. I can't
help myself. The kings of the earth, when
they hear from the word of God, that's their, that's their, That's
their faith, that's their experience. Our heavenly Father, bless your
word, we ask for Christ's sake, amen. 258, let's stand together, 258.