Let's look together in God's
Word to Psalm 127. Psalm 127. As we read this Psalm, I'm reminded
what David said in Psalm 118 when he said this is the Lord's
doing and it is marvelous in our sight. I had someone. Asked me recently, not a person
here, someone that texted me and had been listening to some
messages and they said, you know, there was a point that you made
in a message some time ago about the Lord providing everything
that we need. Do you remember where that was? And I thought, well, I hope that's
pretty much the gist of every message that I preach, that the
Lord has to do the providing in everything. physically, spiritually,
mentally, emotionally, it's the Lord's doing, and it's marvelous
in our sight. I've titled this message the
first three words of Psalm 127, accept the Lord. Accept the Lord. If the Lord doesn't do it, there's
nothing to it. Accept The Lord build the house. The labor. Labor in vain that
build it. Except the Lord keep the city.
The Watchman waketh, but in vain it is vain for you to rise up
early in the setup late to eat the bread of sorrow. For so he
giveth his beloved. Sleep. I don't know if we'll
get to the second half of this psalm, but let's look at these
first two verses as the Lord enables us. People who don't believe God's
word and who don't have the spirit of God will take the sovereignty
of God to its logical conclusion. They will say, well, if God is
absolutely sovereign in all things, then what matters? Why pray? Why preach? Why witness? Why work? Why do anything if
God is absolutely sovereign? And they come to a fatalistic
view of God's sovereignty. I looked up the word fatalism
in the dictionary and one of the synonyms for fatalism was
predestination. Predestination. So even the writers
of our dictionaries have concluded that a predestined view of life
is nothing more than fatalism. And if it is, then fatalism certainly
would breed irresponsibility and then nothing really would
matter. And that's, I'm afraid, what
people think when we talk about our God being sovereign. Except
the Lord do it. Except the Lord build the house.
They labor in vain to build it. except the Lord watch over the
city, the watchman watcheth in vain, except the Lord does it,
there's nothing to it. There's just absolutely nothing
to it. The truth for the child of God is that the sovereignty
of God does not take away our motivation for anything, it is
the cause of our motivation. The fact that we serve a God
who is sovereign in salvation motivates us to preach, motivates
us to pray, motivates us to believe. If God wasn't sovereign in salvation,
then why would we even seek these things? If it was just completely
up to man, then what hope would we have that there would be any
eternal stability to any of it if it's just up to man. The fact
that our God is sovereign is our motivation for everything
that we do. It makes us want to labor. It makes us want to build. It
makes us want to watch. It makes us want to pray and
want to believe. the fact that we have a God who
is omnipotent and absolutely sovereign in all things. If I
thought that the only result that I could hope for is what
I was able to produce, I would lose all hope for doing
anything. It is the fact that we serve
an absolutely sovereign God. that moves our hearts in fear
to believe him, to serve him, and to obey him. And we see that
clearly in this psalm, especially in the first verse, except the
Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. The Lord didn't say, I'm going
to build a house without your labor. I'm going to be the first
cause of all things, but I'm going to use secondary causes
to accomplish my purpose and my end. You are going to labor. You are going to serve me. You
are going to call upon me. You are going to pray and seek
my face. And these are the things, you
see, It's God's command that gives the child of God a warrant
to believe what he's commanded us to do. It's his command that
that summons us. It's his command that gives us
a permit, if you will, to follow after the things that he's commanded
us to do. Now, we know that what he commands
he must provide, and yet he uses the means of his command, except
the Lord. The Lord's got to do the building.
You know, what did Paul say? He said, I watered. The watering
had to be done. And I watered because the Lord
called me to water and he commanded me to water. And Apollos, I planted, I'm sorry, and Apollos
watered. But God gave the increase and
there would be no increase if God didn't do it. That's what
the Lord's saying here. There's planting, and there's
watering, and there's serving, and there's calling, and there's
praying, and there's fearing in every area of life, but the
child of God knows that God has to give the increase. If he doesn't
bless it, it's all in vain. The most well-prepared and well-delivered
sermon will have no effect whatsoever on the hearts of men unless God
makes it effectual. We know that. The most sincere
prayer, the hardest labor will result in nothing unless God
blesses it. You see, that's why the sovereignty
of our God is the motivation for what we do. It doesn't take
away our motivation. It moves the heart to serve him. Unless the Lord builds the house,
they labor in vain that build it. The command of our God is
our warrant to obey Him. The power of our God is our ability
to come and to believe and to follow after Him. So His command
is our warrant, His power is our ability, and His love is
our desire and motivation. If he wasn't sovereign, we would
have, well, we'd just be doing what we do in the flesh and hoping
against hope that somehow it's all gonna work out in the end.
But we do these things believing that our God is absolutely sovereign. And therefore the Lord gets all
the glory. He gets all the glory for the
result And God's people are happy to give him that glory. Lord, you've commanded me to
pray and your command is my warrant to pray. You've given me the
power of faith to believe you. That's not of my will or of my
working or my doing, that's your power. And you've moved my heart by
your spirit in the love of Christ to love you because you first
loved me. Lord, this is why I do what I
do. So unless the Lord build the
house, they labor in vain to build. Unless the Lord watch
over the city, the watchman watcheth in vain. We do what we do because
we know that the Lord is the cause and the end of all things. We believe because he's made us to want
to believe. He's made us willing in the day
of his power. He's given us a new heart and
caused us to have a desire to believe. And those who don't have a desire
to believe have just been left to themselves. They're fully
responsible for their unbelief. And we know that that God gets
all the glory. Did we actually call upon Him? Yeah. Call upon the name of the
Lord and you shall be saved. And why did we call upon Him?
Because He called us out. He gave us the faith to call
upon Him. So He gets the glory in all this unless the Lord builds
the house. They labor in vain that build
it. If a man doesn't believe, it's
because he doesn't want to believe. Simple as that. The Lord said,
you will not come to me that you might have life. Could anyone possibly charge
God with injustice because he did not give to somebody something
that they did not want? Could God be charged with being
unfair and unjust because he did not give to somebody something
that they didn't want? That's where the unbeliever is.
He doesn't want it. He doesn't want it. And it's
exactly where we would be. Who maketh thee to differ? Why
did we not just want Christ but have to have Christ? Because
the Lord made us willing in his sovereignty. in his power, in
his grace, and in his love. He did a work in our hearts and
made us willing. So he gets all the glory. John chapter three, the Lord
said this to Nicodemus. He said, light has come into
the world, but men loved darkness rather than light because their
deeds were evil. Everyone that doeth evil, hateth
the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should
be reproved. Now that's why men don't come
to Christ. He's not just talking about shameful deeds of sin that
men want to hide, embarrassing things. He's talking about man's
righteousness. They won't come to the light
because the light reproves our righteousness for what it is,
darkness and sin. And men won't have that. And so they do not come, everyone
that doeth evil. And you know, before God, truth
is the greatest evil of all is self-righteousness. It really
is. to rob Christ of his glory and
salvation, to take to yourself credit for something that you
did, to save yourself, is worse than the things that the religious,
you know, that the religious are always, are always calling
out societal sins and pointing to the evils of the world. And
those things are evil. There's no question about that.
We live in a, we live in an evil world, a sin filled world. But
the promotion that they make of their own righteousness, they
don't realize makes them worse. Makes them worse. That's why
the scripture says the strength of sin is the law. You see, the more a man looks
to the law for the hope of his salvation, the more sinful he
becomes before God, because the more self-righteous he becomes. And faith, Faith says, unless
the Lord had built this house, whatever I do is in vain. Unless the Lord builds this house,
whatever we do is in vain. Unless the Lord builds my home,
my business, my friendships, whatever, whatever, you just
fill in the blank. Unless the Lord does it, It's
all in vain. It's all in vain. We do what
we do with all of our hearts, looking to the Lord to bless
it. Whether you eat or whether you
drink or whatsoever you do, you do it all as unto the Lord. Isn't that faith? So this idea
that a sovereign God takes away all my motivation to do anything,
that's the thought of an unbeliever who hasn't believed God's word,
who is excusing themselves and robbing
from Christ his glory and seeing what we believe as a completely
irresponsible way to live, when in fact it is the only way to
live. It is the most responsible way to live. The unbeliever, listen to this,
the unbeliever can glory in their accomplishments. And the judgment
that God will give them for that is to give them more success and more material prosperity. The believer, on the other hand,
who is tempted to glory in anything he does, the Lord will correct
him. The Lord will chastise his children.
He doesn't go and chastise other people's children. He chastises
his own children. And he will cause them to either, well, the
child of God that doesn't look to the Lord, The Lord will correct them and
show them who's to be honored in the success that they have.
And oftentimes, he does that by taking away gain. You see,
the world looks at the prosperity of material things as being a
blessing from God, and oftentimes, it's just the opposite. It's
a curse from God. It's a judgment of God against
those who are glorying in believing that they built the house. I
did this." Okay, you want to take glory for it? I'll just
give you more of it. But the believer, the believer's going
to be corrected if he ever thinks that anything he has, what do
you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do
you glory as if you didn't receive it? Isn't that what the Lord
says? And the child of God says, except the Lord build the house.
All my labor's in vain. All my labor's in vain. Now I
want us to look at this first verse from a little bit different
perspective. And that is that the Lord's referring
to the building of his house and of his city, the new Jerusalem. And that house has already been
built. The Lord already built it. You know, when David said, although
my house be not so with God, yet he has made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things and sure, this is all my salvation
and all my desire, though we make it not to grow. And that
last phrase, speaks of two things. It speaks of the fact that I
look at my life and the more I grow in grace and the knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the more the light, the brighter
the light gets, the more we see of our sin, the more we see of
our need for more grace. And the most mature believer
who's walked with Christ the longest is the humblest, the
humblest. And they of all believers believe
themselves to be the chief of all sinners. And so when we look at ourselves,
and the other believers are greatly encouraged by that, aren't they?
The example of the elder brethren that seem to have learned so
much about grace over the years, and it's an encouragement to
the whole church of God. But the other thing, although
he make it not to grow, I can't look at my life, and that's so
different from what we see in religion. In religion, men competing
with one another and promoting themselves as being more holy.
Isaiah put it like this. You say that you're holier than
thou and you are a stench in my nostrils. That's what the
Lord says about that holier than thou. And you know, the irreligious
don't have any interest in coming to church because they see the
hypocrisy of religious people who pretend to be something that
they're not. The child of God knows exactly who he is and we
don't promote ourselves. as being holier than thou. So
that's part of what it means when David said, although he'd
make it not to grow, but the other thing it means is the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ has never grown by one single person. And we long for our loved ones,
particularly our friends, our family members, our children,
we long for them to be saved and to profess Christ and for
the Lord to do a work of grace in their heart. And nothing would
make all of us happier than for these pews to be filled and for
the Lord to pour out His Spirit and for folks to come believe. But, you know, that's not our
pursuit. Our pursuit is to be faithful.
It is required of a steward that he be found faithful. And if
the Lord's going to do that, then it'll be the Lord. We'll
plant and we'll water and we'll wait on the Lord to do the increase.
But we're not under the misguided illusion that we can increase
the number of God's church. It's exactly the same as it's
always been. This is the house, except the
Lord built the house. The Lord Jesus Christ built it
in eternity past. When God chose a particular people
in the covenant of grace and put them in Christ, the church
was established. And not one single person has
ever been added to it. Before the planets were made,
before the stars were made, this is the sovereignty of God. This
is except the Lord build the house. They labor in vain that
build it. Upon this rock, I will build
my church. Know what the Lord said? that
he was referring to that confession that Peter made that thou art
the Christ, the son of the living God. Here's the foundation. This is the stone which was rejected
by the builder. This is the Lord's doing and
it's marvelous in our sight. It's our motivation to preach
and to pray and to serve and to believe and to follow and
to call after God and to witness. It's that our God is sovereign.
And we know there's lost sheep still out there. Because if there
wasn't, we wouldn't be here. The Lord brings in the last of
his lost sheep and we're all going home. That's the end of
this world. No more need for anything here.
It's the only reason this world exists and they don't even know
it. So, Zacharias said the hands
that laid the foundation are the same ones that will finish
the work. It was the Lord's hands that
laid the foundation of his church. And it's the Lord's hands that
calls out his people. It's the Lord's hands that blesses
his word. It's the Lord's hands that gives
faith to believe. And it's the Lord's hand that
will lay that last stone. The last stone, the last of God's
lost sheep, that living stone that's placed into the church
is the Lord's doing. If the Lord had not built the
house, they labor in vain that build
it, that build. We labor, we preach, we pray.
At the end of the day, We're satisfied
and rejoice in what the Lord does. How contrary is this to the spirit of the Babylonians
who said, let us build ourselves a city and a tower which reaches
up into heaven. You know, that's the spirit of
the world. We're going to build it. We're going to glory in it.
Men are always interested in their own glory. The stone which the builders
rejected has become the head of the corner. This is the Lord's
doing. This is the Lord's doing, and
it is marvelous in our sight. Here's the heart and soul of
every gospel message, isn't it? Accept the Lord. Accept the Lord. If the Lord doesn't do it, it's
all in vain. It's all in vain. Listen to what Solomon said in
Ecclesiastes chapter nine, the race, is not to the swift, nor
the battle to the strong, neither bread to the wise, nor riches
to the men of understanding. No, no, no, not by power, nor
by might, but by my spirit, saith the Lord." It's his doing. It's his doing. And we are exactly
where we are because that's where the Lord has brought us. Do we take a fatalistic, irresponsible
view of this? Oh no, this is our motivation
for service. This is our motivation to pray. This is our motivation to believe,
to know that the Lord is the builder and the Lord himself
is the watchman. Turn with me to Ezekiel chapter
33. Ezekiel chapter 33. Now in the first part of Psalm 127 verse 1, We have the analogy of the building
of a building, the building of the church, the building of your
home and my home, and the building of our tabernacle, our life in
Christ. Lest the Lord does the building,
we labor in vain. But knowing that he has done
the building and that he blesses the labor, we labor all the more,
don't we? We labor all the more fervently
knowing that he's pleased to bless those means to his glory. The second analogy that we have
is that of war. That of a war. It's an army coming
against the people of God. And in Ezekiel chapter 33, Look
with me at verse one. Again, the word of the Lord came
unto me saying, son of man, speak to the children of thy people
and say unto them, when I bring the sword upon a land, if the
people of the land take a man of their coast and set him for
their watchman. So the city has towers on the
wall and those towers are manned with watchmen. And if, when he
seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet and
warn the people, then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet
and taketh not warning, if the sword come and take him away,
his blood shall be upon his own head. Now here's the watchman. He sees the enemy coming and
he blows the horn to prepare the people for the battle that's
about to be. ensued and the Lord says, if
you don't listen to the, what is that? Well, it's the preaching
of the gospel. That's what we do every time we stand to preach. We're acting as a watchman. But
the Lord, we're just following the example of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's the watchman for the city of God. He's the one
that blows the trumpet in our hearts and convinces us of the
truth of the gospel. and gives us hope in his accomplished
work of redemption on Calvary's cross. And he said in Isaiah
chapter 40, when he told the prophet, he said, comfort ye,
comfort ye my people, speak ye comfortably unto Jerusalem and
tell them what? Their warfare is accomplished. It is accomplished. Satan's been defeated. Sin's
been put away. Death has been swallowed up in
victory. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Oh
death, where is thy sting? Where is thy sting? Oh grave,
where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin. And
the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, through
Christ Jesus, we have received the victory. The Lord Jesus Christ
is our watchman and he's gotten the victory for us. He's defeated
the enemy. He's our David who went up against
Goliath and got the victory for all of his people. All of Israel
enjoyed the benefits of the victory that David got against the Philistines,
did they not? The Lord's the watchman. Unless
the Lord watches over the house, we watch in vain. Nothing we
can do if God doesn't watch over us. If he doesn't watch over
each one of us, we'll fall away. If he doesn't watch over this
work, it'll fail. There'll be nothing to it. He's
the watchman. He's the one that that is pictured
in the blowing of the trumpet and the carrying of the ark when
Joshua crossed the Jordan and they surrounded Jericho, that
impenetrable city of great walls, and the spies went in and Rahab
told them about the city. And then Joshua, what'd he do?
The Lord six times, six times march around the city once a
day for six days. What's the number six a reference
to in the Bible? It's a reference to man. Man
was made on the sixth day. The number of the beast is 666.
It's man's number. Unless the Lord builds the house,
they labor in vain. Nothing happened for six days.
Why? Because God was showing them
that man can't do it. And then what happened on the
seventh day? They marched around the city seven times in one day.
And then the seventh time around, Joshua said, blow the ram's horn,
preach the gospel. And all the people hollered. And the walls came down. And
the city was defeated in the perfection of the gospel. Number seven, the declaring of
the gospel. Except the Lord be the watchman. They watch in vain. That watch
over the city. The city can't stand unless the
Lord build the house. So he said, I'm gonna set watchman
up. Look at, excuse me. I have a tickle, I
promise, that's all it is. Verse five, he heard the sound
of the trumpet and took not warning, his blood shall be upon him,
but he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. So the watchman
has blown the trumpet. The gospel has been preached.
They who believe the message of the watchman, prepare themselves. How do they prepare themselves?
They come to Christ. They believe what's being declared.
They know that there's a, that there's an ensuing battle to
be fought. There's an overflowing scourge
that's going to come in the day of wrath and the day of judgment.
And they can't, they can't stand against that. I got to tell you
all this story. Y'all know, um, Gene and Ricardo. David, their 12-year-old, is
a really, really good soccer player. And he's extremely competitive. I mean, he's just competitive
about everything. And David told his mother a few weeks, maybe
a few months ago, whatever, after listening to the gospel He looked
at his mom and he said, I can't compete against that. I cannot compete against that.
That's a 12-year-old. Isn't that glorious? I can't compete against that.
I don't want to compete against that. He's going to have to win
that battle for me. He's going to have to get the
victory for me all by himself. And that's exactly what he did.
We hear the sound of the trumpet and we believe. We believe. And we've been delivered. Our
souls, you see the end of chapter verse 5? But he that taketh warning
shall deliver his soul. But if the watchman see the sword
come and blow not the trumpet and the people be not warned,
if the sword come and take away any person from among them, he
is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood will I require
of the watchman's hand." Now, yeah, that verse used to scare
me. I thought, well, you know how many opportunities I've missed
to tell somebody, about Christ and is there blood on my hand? That's not the reference here.
First of all, we think about what Judah said to Jacob when
he said, I will be surety for Benjamin. And if I don't bring
him back, you require me of it. I'll be to blame. Is it possible
if the Lord Jesus is the watchman, is it possible for the blood
to be on his hand of any of his people? Was he not faithful to
declare the message of his salvation in the hearts of every one of
his people? No, the blood's not going to be on his hand. Remember
when Paul wrote to Philemon, I made mention of this this past
Sunday, and sent Onesimus back? and said to Philemon, he said,
now, if he owe you anything else, put it to my account. I'll pay
it. That's what the Lord says. If they owe you anything, Lord,
put it to my account. The Lord puts to his account
all the debt that God's people have incurred because of their
sin. So he's the watchman. There's no blood on his hand.
The blood that is going to be on men's hand are the false prophets
who are not preaching the gospel. who are declaring peace, peace
when there is no peace, who are putting men under the law and
telling them, you know, if you'll do this or do that, you can set
yourself up right with God. And they're not declaring the
message, the Lord's got to build the house or we labor in vain.
The Lord's got to watch over the city or the watchman watcheth
in vain. He's the one that has to do it
all. This is the Lord's doing. And we glory in it. We glory
in giving Him all the glory. Do we not? The battle has been won. Sin has been put away. Satan has been defeated. That's the work of the Holy Spirit. When He convicts us of sin because
of our unbelief, of righteousness because Christ is our righteousness
who's gone to the Father, and of judgment because the prince
of this world is judged. Past tense, period, done, finished. He's been judged. God's people
rejoice. Oh, the Lord's our watchman.
He's our watchman. And he sends out men after his
own heart. to point others to Christ. That's all the faithful watchman
does. The faithful watchman is just
like John the Baptist. Behold, the Lamb of God. He's the one that takes away
the sins of the world. Look to Christ. Look to Christ. Let's look at verse 2 just quickly. It is vain for you to rise up early and
to sit up late and to eat the bread of sorrow, for so he giveth
his beloved sleep. How disquieted we can become,
how worried we get. What do we do? We're dishonoring
Christ when we're that way. You know that. That's our unbelief,
isn't it? And that's our sin. And. And
the Lord say it's such vanity to that it's you're not accomplishing
anything. You know what a glorious thing
it is to wake up in the middle of the night and fret over something
and the Lord just assure your heart. I've got this and you're
able to go back to sleep. Knowing that the Lord's in control,
he doesn't sleep, he's Everything's right on schedule. He's doing
it exactly right. The Lord's doing it. This is
the Lord's doing. The Lord's got it all under control. That's the motivation for our
faith. You see, the self-righteous have
faith in order to get rewarded. You know, they present their
faith as their offering to God in hopes that he will reward
them for their faith. What kind of God is that? Our faith is because he has rewarded
us and because he is sovereign and because he is in control,
we're able to have faith that enables us to put our head on
our pillows and sleep. Rest, rest in the finished work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn with me over just a few
pages to Ecclesiastes chapter three. Ecclesiastes chapter three. The Lord's telling us here, what
are you fretting over? I'm building the house, I'm watching
the city. I'm working all things together
for good. I'm in sovereign control over
all these things. I've put away your sin. That
battle's already been fought. That enemy's already been defeated.
That sin's already been put away. You know, when Noah landed on
Mount Ararat, the scripture says in that passage that the waters,
that they assuaged. They dried up and there are several
references to that. Where did that water go? What
was that water? First of all, it was a picture
of judgment, wasn't it? It was a picture of wrath. And the very thing that drownded
the entire world of unbelievers is the same thing that gave rise
to the ark and safety to those who were inside. And so it is
with the wrath of God that fell on Calvary's cross, the same
thing that brings judgment to the world, elevates the child
of God who's found in Christ above the waters. And those waters
dried up and then where'd they go? Where did they go? Where
did that judgment go? It went into the depths of the
sea is where it went. And where's our sin gone? The
Lord says he's cast them into the depths of the sea. Not much
we know about the depths of the sea really. Really, I mean, it's
the frontier that we've never, we know more about the surface
of the moon and Mars than we do about what's underneath. We've surveyed like 1% of underneath
the ocean, and every single time, every single time they go down
to the deep sea, they discover a new species that they never
knew existed before, right? I mean, every time, every time. That's where all that judgment
went. That's where our sin is, just
gone. It's gone, covered by the blood of Christ. Look at Ecclesiastes
chapter 3, to everything there is a season, verse 1, and a time
to every purpose under heaven. To everything there's a season.
To everything under heaven, there is a time and there is a purpose,
a time to be born, a time to die. And it goes on in these
verses, skip down with me to verse nine. What profit hath
he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth? If the Lord's absolutely
sovereign over things, then what profit do we have? We're laboring
and we do labor. We labor in the gospel, we labor
in work, We labor in family, we labor in relationships, we
labor in marriage, we're laboring. And say, well, if everything's
got a time and a season and a purpose, what's the purpose of laboring? I have seen the travail which
God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. There it is. There's the purpose
of our laboring, to be exercised in knowing that except the Lord
build the house, they labor in vain that build it. So we labor
and we think, well, what are we accomplishing? What are we
accomplishing in all of our labors? Nothing. If the Lord doesn't
bless it, if the Lord doesn't bless it, We can plant water
all we want. If God doesn't give the increase,
it's of no value. It's vanity. But, verse 11, he hath made everything
beautiful in his time. And he has set the world in their
hearts so that no man can find out the work that God maketh
from beginning to the end. We don't know what God's doing.
Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the earth. Now that's what the Lord was
telling us in Matthew chapter 6 in the Sermon on the Mount
when he said, you know, look at the flowers of the field.
Solomon and all of his glory were not arrayed like them. Look
at the birds of the air. They don't fret. Are you not
much more valuable? Will your heavenly father not
provide for you? Why do you stay up late and get
up early and fear and worry? Your heavenly father knows your
needs. Yes, labor. Yes, pray. Yes, work. But at the end of
all of that, no. That if the Lord doesn't bless
it, it's all in vain. But he has blessed it. He's blessed
it in Christ, and there's our hope. There's our hope. We can rest in his person and
in his finished work, knowing that the enemy's been defeated,
victory has been won, the city is being watched, and the child
of God says, accept the Lord. Accept the Lord, build the house.
We, whatever house you want, we labor in vain. Except the
Lord watch over the city. The watchman watching. Why do you stay up late? Why
do you fret? Why do you worry? Don't you know
that I'm sovereign? Rest, lie down and rest. Our Heavenly Father, thank you
for your word. Forgive us for our unbelief.
Bless us. With more faith, we ask it in
Christ's name. Amen. Number 12 in this problem, let's
stand together number 12.