Let's open tonight's service
with hymn number 53 from the Hardback Tymbal, number 53. And
we sing this to a slightly different tune. You'll repeat the last
phrase and the last line twice. You'll see it'll fit the music.
Let's all stand together, number 53. ?? How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
in a believer's ear. It soothes his sorrows, heals
his wounds, and drives away his fear. And drives away his fear. Dear name, the rock on which
I build my shield and I declare, my never-failing treasury filled
with boundless stores of praise, with boundless stores of praise. Jesus, my shepherd, brother,
friend, my prophet, priest, and king, my Lord, my life, my way,
my end, accept the praise I bring. accept the praise I bring. Weak is the effort of my heart,
and bold my warmest thought. But when I see thee as thou art,
I'll praise thee as I ought. I'll praise thee as Please be seated. Good evening. Let's open our Bibles together
to Psalm 140. Psalm 140. Begin reading at verse 1. Deliver
me, O Lord, from the evil man. Preserve me from the violent
man. Which imagine mischief in their
heart continually are they gathered together for war. They have sharpened
their tongues like a serpent. Adder's poison is under their
lips. Selah. Keep me, O Lord, from the hands
of the wicked. Preserve me from the violent
man who have purposed to overthrow my goings. The proud have hit
a snare for me. In cords they have spread a net. By the wayside they have
set gins for me. I said unto the Lord, thou art
my God. Hear the voice of my supplication,
O Lord. Now skip down with me to verse
12. I know that the Lord will maintain
the cause of the afflicted and the right of the poor. Surely
the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name. The upright shall
dwell in thy presence. Let's pray together. Our gracious and merciful Heavenly
Father, this is our prayer that you would keep us and preserve
us and deliver us. Lord, we find that evil man to
be in our own breast, in our own flesh, warring against us,
the spirit against the flesh, that we cannot be what we ought.
Lord, we ask that In this hour, you would minister grace to our
hearts, that you would reveal more to us of the glory, the
beauty, the righteousness, the perfection of the Lord Jesus
Christ, who himself is our life. Make him known to us and cause
us, Lord, to flee in faith to him, resting all our hope in
his glorious person, and in his accomplished work. For we ask
it in Christ's name. Amen. Let's all stand again. We'll
sing hymn number 352 from the hardback timbrel. 352. Jesus, lover of my soul, let
me to thy bosom fly. While the nearer waters
flow, while the tempest still is high, ? Hide me, O my Savior, hide ?
? Till the storm of life is past ? ? Safe into the haven guide
? ? O receive my soul at last ? ? Other refuge have I none ? ?
Thanks my helpless soul on thee ? ? Leave, O leave me not alone
? ? Still support and comfort me ? ? All my trust on thee is
stayed ? All my help from Thee I bring, Cover my defenseless
head With the shadow of Thy wing. Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
More than all in Thee I find, ? Praise the fallen, cheer the
faint ? ? Heal the sick and lead the blind ? ? Just and holy is
thy name ? ? I am all on righteousness ? ? False and full of sin I am
? Thou art full of truth and grace. Plenty as grace with Thee
is found, Grace to cover all Thy sins. Let the healing streams
abound, They can keep Thee for ever. Thou the light of the fountain
heart, freely let me take of Thee. Spring Thou up within my
heart, rise to all eternity. Let's open our Bibles together
to Psalm 119. Psalm 119. I'd like to try to
bring a message from verse 121. I have done judgment and justice. We know that all of these passages
relate prophetically to Christ. He's the only one that's done
justice. And yet we find ourselves in him. We can say before God,
I've done justice. His life is my life. His work
is my work. His death is my death. His resurrection
is my resurrection. His ascension is my ascension. I am seated in the heavenlies
right now in Christ Jesus. Justice and judgment have been
done by virtue of my union with Christ. Yet I'm still here in
this world. And being in the world, there
are oppressors all about us. And so David goes on to say,
leave me not to mine oppressors. I've titled this message, leave
me not, leave me not. This is truly every believer's
prayer. Lord, don't leave me to myself.
Keep me. And the older we get, and the
more we grow in grace, and the more we see the beauty of Christ,
and the more we see of that sin we just sang about. It's ever
before us. We cry all the more, Lord, keep
me. Leave me not to my oppressors. The truth is that for God to
judge a people, for him to judge a person, he doesn't have to
do what he did to Korah. When Korah rebelled against Moses
and God separated him and his band from the rest of Israel
and opened up the earth and swallowed them into the earth. God doesn't
have to do what he did in the judgment of the world when the
deluge came in Noah's day and destroyed every living thing
on the face of the earth. God doesn't have to send a plague. He doesn't have to send famine.
He doesn't have to send a flood. All God has to do is leave us
to ourselves. That's it. Just leave us alone. The most fearful judgment that
the Lord pronounced against the Pharisees is not when he called
them whitewashed tombs or hypocrites or snakes, told them about the
judgment of God that was to come. The greatest judgment that he
spoke against them is when he said to them, it's not that which
goes into the mouth that defiles a man. They were all caught up
in the dietary laws and thinking that they could They ate the
right thing and avoided eating the wrong thing that they could
earn favor with God. And the Lord said, it's not that
which goes into the mouth that defiles a man, it's that which
comes out of the mouth that defiles him. What you say about Christ
is what defiles you. By your words, you shall be justified
and by your words, you shall be condemned. And the Pharisees
were offended and the apostles came to the Lord and said, Lord,
they're offended at you. And here's the greatest judgment
that the Lord pronounced against the Pharisees when he said to
the disciples, leave them alone. That's it. Leave them alone. They'd be blind guides leading
the blind. And if the blind lead the blind,
they'll both fall into the dish. Just leave them alone. If God
takes his restraining grace off of me and you and leaves us to
ourselves, that is the greatest judgment that could happen. And
so the child of God is constantly saying with David in Psalm 51,
Lord, take not thy spirit from me. Lord, here's the prayer. Lead me not to mine oppressors. Turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter
13. Deuteronomy 13. This prophecy came to pass as does all of God's prophecies. But we know that historically
in the nation of Israel, this one surely came to pass. Deuteronomy chapter 13. And we'll
begin reading at verse 16. God says to Moses, and thou shalt
gather all the spoil. I'm sorry. Deuteronomy 13. Boy, I've transferred the wrong... Well, I'm so sorry. Forgive me.
Let's turn to Psalm 27. Psalm 27. I won't be able to find that
passage, I'm certain of it. But the Lord told Moses in that
passage that I'm looking for, Moses, after you die, these people
will go after other gods and I will hide my face from them. That's what God said to Moses. I'm just gonna hide my face from
them. And when I do, judgment will come upon them. They will
choose their own way. You know what they did when they
persisted in having a king, Samuel was the greatest judge and king
and prophet that they could have possibly had. And the Lord was
their sovereign king. And they came to Samuel and said,
we want a king. We want a king. And Samuel said,
no, God is our king. We have him and we have his word.
And they said, we want to be like our neighbors. and the Lord
left them to themselves. The Lord said, okay, I'll give
you what you asked for. And some of the most grievous
days of Israel's history was under the reign of King Saul.
God just left them to themselves, let them have what they wanted. Psalm 27, turn with me there. Look with me at verse nine. Hide
not thy face far from me. Put not thy servant away in anger.
Thou hast been my help. Leave me not, neither forsake
me, O God of my salvation. When my father and my mother
forsake me, then the Lord will take me up. When I'm forsaken
by the people that I depend on the most in this world, I know
the Lord will not forsake me. He's promised. He said, I'll
never leave you nor forsake you. And yet we're not presumptuous
about that, are we? We see the reality of our own
sin every day. And we think, we experience the
coldness of our hearts and the temptations of sin and Satan. And we think, Lord, if you leave
me right where I am, you leave me to myself. I've got no hope. So we're always crying, Lord,
save me, keep me. Forsake me not, David said in
Psalm 119 verse eight. He said, forsake me not utterly. Have you ever felt partially
forsaken of God? Sure you have. Sure you have. That's the consequence of sin,
isn't it? And the Lord will, allow his
children to have a little extra leash sometimes in order to show
them what they're capable of. And say, Lord, don't forsake
me utterly. You've left me to wallow in the
shame and guilt of my sin and in my unbelief and in my doubts
and my fears. Lord, don't leave me here. Don't
forsake me utterly. That's what David said. Listen
to what he said in Psalm 71 verse 18. Now that I am old and gray
headed, forsake me not. You know, the more we grow in
grace, the more we see of Christ and the more we understand, you
know, I was thinking, preparing for this message, your brand
new believers really can't appreciate this very much. They think, you
know, everything's, Everything's good, everything, you know, when
you first, when you first meet the Lord, you think all my sin
problems have gone away. And, uh, and then as you, as
you're working out your salvation with fear and trembling, the
Lord allows you to see that that sin problem is still there. And,
uh, And the older you get, David said, now that I'm old and gray
headed, forsake me not. In another place he said, cast
me not off in my old age. The older we get, the more we
find ourselves. Pray, Lord, keep me. Keep me
from myself. Deliver me from my oppressors. Leave me not to mine oppressors. Leave me not, neither forsake
me, O God of my salvation. Believers know what it means
to have a cold heart. We just sang about it. They know
what it means to have feelings of indifference towards the things
of God, to be caught up in the things of this world. When sin
is strong and Satan is tempting and accusing us, when God lengthens
the, the leash and allows us to fall headlong into our sin
like he did for David. The Lord, David was a man after
God's own heart. Yet the Lord allowed David to,
and David was the one who prayed in Psalm 51 after Nathan had
exposed him, the Lord exposed him through Nathan. And Nathan
assured him, the Lord's forgiven you. David wrote Psalm 51. He
said, my sins ever before me. Take not thy Holy Spirit from
me. Return unto me the joy of thy
salvation at the bones that thou have broken, Lord. There's the
believer's experience. You know what it's like to have
heaven as brass? You feel like your prayers are
not getting anywhere. Lord seems so far away. And we cry, leave me not to my
oppressors. Lord, my oppressors are taking
advantage of me. Lord, don't leave me here. Deliver
me. Listen to what David said, and he said this, he prayed this
three times in one Psalm, Psalm 80, verses three, seven, and
19. He said, turn us again, oh God,
and cause thy face to shine upon us and we shall be saved. Turn
us, how many times do we have to be turned? Turn us again,
oh God. Cause thy face to shine upon
us. Lord, I'm not experiencing the
shining of your face. If you do that, we'll be saved.
Because people are always crying out for salvation. They're always
saying, Lord, Lord, lead me not to my oppressors. I looked up this word, oppressor.
And the dictionary definition was to defraud by deceit. To defraud by deceit. In other words, to lie to you.
And that's what sin does. Sin lies to us. Sin promises
what it cannot deliver. And we find our own sin to be
our number one oppressor. Lord, if you leave me in my sin, I'll be overcome by it. Paul said in Romans chapter seven,
we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. I'm a slave to sin. I can't ever
get away from it. It's always there. Lord, lead me not to my
oppressors. Lead me not in my sin. And at
the end of, chapter seven, in the beginning of chapter eight
of Romans, he said, thanks be to God, through Christ Jesus,
we are free. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the spirit. They're not looking to fleshly
means for the hope of their salvation. They're looking to the spirit
of God. And he went on to say, reckon yourselves to be dead
indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ. There's
the only hope that we have against our sin, that sin that's always
with us, that oppressor that has defrauded us and deceived
us time and time again. It's tempted us to believe that
we would be happy with it. And yet it's the destruction
of our lives. It's the thing that causes us
more trouble and turmoil and separation from God. And we say,
Lord, leave me not to my oppressors. Don't leave me in my sin. Lord,
deliver me. Why is it that people don't believe
themselves to be sinners? You know, some people will be
listening to what we're talking about right now. And I said,
you know, I just can't relate to that. They just, you're putting
everybody on a guilt trip. No, I'm not. No, I'm not. Why is it? Why is it that a person
has not believed themselves to be a sinner? One very simple reason. The Lord
Jesus Christ has never revealed himself to them. That's it. The one who's holy, harmless,
undefiled, and separate from sinners, the son of God, the
righteousness of God, the perfection of God has never made himself
known to them. And so they're just doing what
comes natural, comparing themselves to themselves and thinking that
they're getting better or comparing themselves to other men, believing
that they are better. At least I'm above, you know,
average. That's what most folks think. But if they ever find themselves
confronted with the perfection and the holiness and the righteousness
and the love of God in Christ Jesus, they will come to one
conclusion, woe is me, I am undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. In
me, Paul said in that passage we were just quoting Romans chapter
seven, there's no good thing, no good thing. My comeliness
has turned me into corruption. Behold, I'm vile. There's nothing
in me like him. Nothing. And that's the only
reason a person not been made a sinner is because they've not
seen Christ. He's not made himself known to
them. That's why we want to preach
Christ. You know, here's the, people debate doctrine, don't
they? In religion, they want to debate
particular redemption or they want to debate irresistible grace,
or they want to debate perseverance or something of that effect.
They want to debate the sovereignty of God and salvation. It really
always boils down to one problem. One problem. They're not a sinner.
They're not a sinner. God ever makes you to be a sinner.
You know that you didn't have anything to do with you choosing
God. You couldn't have. You're in
your sin. You know that there's, in you,
there is no good thing. There's no righteousness. God
makes you to be a sinner. You know that Christ had to,
had to effectually put away that sin by the sacrifice of himself.
There was nothing you can do. You see, to deny particular redemption,
the effectual work of Christ on the cross for the elect, is
to say that he didn't really finish the work. He's depending
upon you to do something to make what he did work for you. And
that's the denial of being a sinner. The denial of election is a denial
of being a sinner. The denial of irresistible grace
is the denial of being a sinner. Once God makes you a sinner,
the rest of it's easy, isn't it? When David wrote, leave me not
to my oppressors, what he was saying is what every believer
says daily. Lord, don't leave me in my sin.
Don't leave me here. Deliver me. Deliver me from my
unbelief, from the coldness of my heart, from my fears and doubts. Deliver me from my lust. Deliver
me from my worldly ways. Lord, if you leave me, my sin
will overwhelm me. My sin will overcome me if you
leave me here. There's our hope that the Lord
Jesus Christ put away our sin. The answer to this prayer, lead
me not to mine oppressors, is to look to Christ and to see
what he did in putting away our sin. That's why he said reckon
yourselves to be dead and be done to sin. Believe it to be
true because it is true. That's what the word reckon means.
Count it to be so because it is. The only way that we're gonna
be not left in our sin is if God enables us to look to Christ
and see and believe what he did in putting away our sin by the
sacrifice of himself. oppressor to defraud by deceit. Not only a sin, our oppressor,
but Satan is our oppressor. He's called the father of lies.
He's the deceiver. He's still doing what he did
in the, in the garden, causing man to doubt God. Do you ever
doubt God? You ever wonder, you know, I
know you, you believe But in your daily experience, you just
wonder, why is this the way it is? And your fears are really
based in doubting God. That's all caused by Satan. That's
what the Lord said to Peter. Peter needed to have his leash
lengthened a little bit, didn't he? Oh, Peter thought he was
right there with the Lord. They may deny you, but not me.
Peter, I'm gonna let a little bit of your leash out tonight. Satan has asked to sift you,
but I have prayed for you. And when you've repented, when
you're converted, the Lord said, you teach the brethren. Oh, Peter sinned grievously that
night, didn't he? The Lord just left him to himself
is what he did. That's all he did. He removed
some of his restraining grace and he let Satan have his way. Lord, lead me not to my oppressors. I can't stand up against Satan.
He's too powerful for me. That's why the Lord in the model
prayer said, lead us not into temptation. Notice that the Lord
didn't say lead us not into sin. Lord, don't let me sin. That's
not what he said. Lead us not into temptation. Why? Because if the Lord allows
us to be tempted, we're going to sin. You've never been tempted without
sinning. Lord, lead me not to my oppressors. Don't lead me
to my sin. Don't lead me to Satan. And there
again, what's the hope if the Lord would not leave us there?
He's destroyed the works of the devil. He's delivered us from
the grips of Satan. Satan has no power for the believer in Christ. So
we find ourselves looking to Christ. He has power over us. There's no power over Christ. He's come to destroy the works
of the devil and that he has done. He has set the captive
free. We were once captive to this
oppressor. We were unable to believe, unable
to resist the devil in any way, unable to be delivered from him.
But now in Christ, we pray, Lord, save me. Leave me not to my oppressors. Don't leave me in my sin. And
don't leave me over to, don't leave me to Satan. He's, deliver
me from temptation. Deliver me from the evil one.
Leave me not into temptation. Not only is the oppressor our
own sin and Satan himself, who is the accuser of the brethren,
And he's busy, isn't he? But remember, he's God's devil,
isn't he? The Lord uses him to cause us
to pray this prayer. Leave me not to my oppressor.
Cause us to run to Christ that we might be delivered from the
power of Satan. But also this world, defrauds
us through deceit. Now I'm not talking about the
created world. The created world is a beautiful thing. The created
world is something that God made and demonstrates his glory, the
firmament, shouts of his glory, all the things that God has made
in creation. When the Bible speaks of the
world, most of the time it's speaking of the system of the
world, the philosophy of the world, the religions of the world. the values of this world, all
that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the
eyes and the pride of life. And we live in this world. And
the Lord prayed in John 17 to our father when he said, father,
I pray not that you would take them out of the world, but that
you would keep them from the world. I've given you the word. And so there's our only hope
that we would not be overcome by This world, we live in the
world, we're tempted by the world, the system of the world, the
philosophy of the world, are contrary to things of God. Friendship
with the world is enmity with God. This world is on a diametrically
opposed direction from God. Everything about this world. Turn with me to John 17. We'll
look at some of those verses real quick. John 17. Look at verse 14. The Lord's praying to his father,
to our father. I go to my father and to your
father. And what the Lord told, Mary
at the tomb, I have given them thy word and the world hath hated
them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of
the world. I pray not that you should take
them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the
evil. You see, Lord, lead me not to
my oppressors. This whole world is in opposition
to God. And if the Lord leaves us alone,
we'll fall into the pattern of this world. And so our Lord's
praying for us. Here's the hope that we not be
overwhelmed by this world, that we not be swallowed up by this
world. The Lord prayed for us. He prayed for us. Look what he
says in verse 7, 16. They are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. sanctify them through thy truth
thy word is truth now what the word sanctify means separate
them separate them from what from the world you know we we
don't we don't create some sort of a of a cult where we separate,
you know, we saw that a couple of Sundays ago from first Corinthians
chapter five, when the Lord said, when I told you not to fellowship
with fornicators, I didn't mean to fornicators of the world.
Otherwise you'd have to come out of the world. I was talking
about those who call themselves to be brethren. Don't have anything
to do with them. Don't even eat with them. So
the Lord's not telling us to come out of the world. He's praying
that we're not beyond the world, that this system of the world,
not, not influence us, but it does. And for that reason,
we find ourselves saying, leave me not to my oppressors. This world is full of lies and
deceits at every turn, particularly when it comes to religion. Turn with me to 1 John 1. 1 John chapter 4 verse 1. Beloved, believe not every spirit. Now, believing a spirit is believing
the voice of a man who says he's speaking for God. That's what
the spirits are here. Preachers or Bible scholars or
whatever, men who pretend to be speaking for God. And he said,
don't believe every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they
are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the
world. So there's the spirits, is the prophets, the false prophets.
Hereby know ye the spirit of God, every spirit that confesses
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. Jesus, Jehovah
saves. He's done all the saving all
by himself. He hasn't left anything undone.
The Christ, the anointed one, the one who came in the full
power of the spirit of God in order to accomplish the purpose
of God, the salvation of God's people. Jesus is the Christ and
he's common in the flesh, the incarnation of God. that God
was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory as
the only begotten of the father, full of grace and full of truth,
born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who are cursed
by the law. Jesus is come in the flesh. You see the heresies that have
crept in to the church have all denied something about Christ.
denied something about him. I was talking to Todd today and
he had just listened to a preacher, a false prophet in his city,
in Lexington, because somebody had gone there and told him about
this place. And the guy flat out denied that Jesus was fully
God when he died on Calvary's cross. He denied the deity of
Christ in his death. He said, God can't die. So he
must have set aside his divinity when he bore our sins. Otherwise
he would have become defiled and he would have been, you know,
God couldn't die. And, you know, these are just
the heresies that, this is an old heresy by the way, it's been
around for a long time. But here's what the Lord said,
discern whether or not the man speaking the truth of what he
says about Jesus Christ. There's how you know. For many
false prophets have gone out into the world. Look at verse
three. And every spirit that confesses
not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And
this is the spirit of antichrist, whereof you have heard that it
should come and even now already is in the world. When did John
write this? 2,000 years ago. You know, these people that get
caught up in the end time prophecies and talking about the Antichrist
and trying to identify a particular person in the world who is the
Antichrist. The Antichrist is a spirit. It's
everything that's Antichrist, which is everything that's in
the world. And we're in this world and yet
we love Christ. We belong to Christ. Our hope
is in Christ. And yet we live in a world that
hates Him. hates him. Verse four, you are of God, little
children, and have overcome them because, here's how you overcame
them. You didn't overcome them because
you pulled yourself up by your bootstraps and you gritted your
teeth and you made some commitments and determinations not to be
like the world. You overcame them because greater is he that's
in you than he that's in the world. The Lord wouldn't let
you believe those prophets. He kept you. He restrained you. He didn't leave you to your oppressors. Why? Because we're always crying,
Lord, don't leave me to my oppressors. If you leave me in this world,
I'll take on the religion of the world, the philosophy of
the world, the values of this world. If you leave me in my
sin, it's gonna overcome me. If you lead me over to Satan,
he'll destroy me. Here's our hope, brethren. Greater
is he that's in you than he that's within the world. Here's our
hope. Flee to Christ or leave me not
to my oppressors. Verse five. They are of the world,
therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. Oh, these false prophets, these
preachers who deny the Lord Jesus Christ, they can fill up stadiums
with people. Why? Because they're of the world,
and the people are of the world, the world loves them, and the
world hates what we preach. We are of God. We are of God. We're not of the world. We are
of God. He that knoweth God, heareth
us. And he that is not of God, heareth
not us. Hereby know we the spirit of
truth and the spirit of error. We believe that Jesus is the
Christ who's come in the flesh. bearing the sins of his people
in his body upon a tree and putting them away by the sacrifice of
himself, defeating Satan. Our oppressors. First Peter chapter three. Turn
with me there. First Peter chapter three. First Peter chapter one. So I've got a little dyslexia
tonight, I guess. 1 Peter 1, verse three. Bless be the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. By the resurrection, through
the resurrection, by the power of the resurrection, he's begotten
us again to a lively hope. to an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for
you. We're not of this world. We're looking to another world.
We're the children of Abraham. We're looking for a city which
have foundations whose builder and maker is God. We're looking
for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to deliver us out of this
world. Leave us not to our oppressors. Lord, don't leave me in this
world. What great hope the child of God has knowing that one day
he'll be made just like Christ. No more sin, no more sorrow. Verse five, who are kept by the
power of God through faith unto salvation,
ready to be revealed. in the last time. Oh, Lord, keep me. Keep me. I'm a child of God. Always pray in that prayer, isn't
he? And the Lord said, the hour cometh,
and now he is. This is what he told the disciples
at the last supper. The hour cometh, and now is,
that you shall be scattered, every man to his own, and every
one of you is going to leave me." And then he said, I will never
leave you, nor forsake you. You see, the reason why we pray,
Lord, leave me not to my oppressors, because we're always leaving
the Lord. We're doing exactly what those disciples did on that
night. The Lord said, you don't leave me. Every one of them,
you're gonna be scattered tonight, but I'll never leave you. So we find ourselves calling
out to God, Lord, leave me not to my oppressors. And in conclusion, you know,
in the book of Ruth, that a man by the name of Elimelech and
his wife, Naomi, and his two sons, Chilion and Malon, lived
in Bethlehem, the city of bread. They were part of that. They
were where the bread of life was. But there was a famine in
the land. And a limelight figured, I'll
go get a better job. I'm going to go over to Moab,
provide for my family. Never should have left Bethlehem.
Never should have left. But he went to Moab. And in Moab,
he died and his sons died. And Naomi is left destitute. And Naomi says to her daughter-in-laws,
you all go back to your family. I'm going back to where I came
from. And God has dealt with me grievously. And she goes back, a worn out
old woman. And Ruth says to her, Ruth says
to her, entreat me not to leave thee. or to return from following after
thee. For where you go, I will go. Your people will be my people. Your God will be my God. Where you die, I will die. And may God judge me, if anything
but death separate me from thee. That's the spirit of grace. That's
what the Lord causes us to say. Lord, where you go, I've got
to go. I've experienced enough. I know
my potential. I know my potential. I know that
if you leave me to myself, I'll not remain. Sin is too strong. Satan is too powerful. This world
is too captivating. I'm too weak and unbelieving.
Leave me not to my oppressors. All I can do is follow after
Christ. Our heavenly Father, bless your word to our hearts.
We ask it in Christ's name, amen. 168, 168, let's stand together, 168. We'll sing this a cappella. Lord, I hear of showers of blessing. Thou art scattering full and
free. Showers the thirsty land refreshing. Let some drops now fall on me. Even me. even me, let thy blessing
fall on me. Pass me not, O tender Savior,
let me love and cling to thee. I am longing for thy favor, whilst
thou art calling, O call me. Even me, even me, let thy blessing
fall on me. Pass me not, O mighty spirit,
thou canst make the blind to see. Witnesser of Jesus' merit,
speak the word of power to me. Even me, even me, let thy blessing
fall on me. Love of God so pure and changeless,
blood of Christ so rich and free. Grace of God so strong and boundless,
magnify them all in me. Even me, even me, let thy blessing
fall on me. Pass me not thy lost one bringing,
bind my heart, O Lord, to thee. While the streams of life are
springing, blessing others, O bless me. Even me, even me, let thy
blessing fall on me. Thank you.