I don't know what to say. I'm not sure if I'm going to
be able to do this. I'm going to be doing more and
more of this. I'm going to be doing more and
more of this. We're going to go ahead and get
started. Good evening. Let's open tonight's
service with hymn number 37 from your spiral hymn book, number
37. Let's all stand together. Approach my soul, the throne
of grace, in every time of need. There's mercy for the needy one. who Jesus' name shall be. Though I'm a weak and sinful
wretch, I will approach the throne. I'll lean upon Christ's mighty
arm and bleed His blood alone. The blood, the precious blood
of Christ has opened up the way by which I can draw near to God
and to my Father, pray. Though Satan tempts my heart
to sin, I'll call upon my God. And if I fall, he'll lift me
up and cleanse me in the blood. The way is open. God will hear my groans and cries
of grief. Nothing can keep me from his
throne but my own unbelief. Oh, Lord, my unbelief, remove
and turn my heart by grace. Come, help me to approach your
throne. and they're spread out my case. Please be seated. I like singing acapella. Good
evening. Let's turn on our Bibles to Psalm
119 for our call to worship. Psalm 119. And I'm going to do
something a little different tonight in that we're going to
read the verses that for our call to worship that I'll be
preaching from in just a few more minutes. So you can leave
your Bible open to these verses and pay special attention because
we'll be dealing with these verses in a few minutes. I did want to congratulate Seth
for graduating from college this weekend. So Seth, good job. Now forget everything you ever
learned. It's not true. All right, verse
89. Forever, O Lord, thy word is
settled in heaven. Thy faithfulness is unto all
generations. Thou hast established the earth,
and it abideth. Thou continue this day according,
I'm sorry, they continue this day according to thine ordinances,
for all are thy servants. Unless thy law had been my delights,
I should have perished in my afflictions. I will never forget
thy precepts, for with them thou hast quickened me. I am thine. Save me. Save me. for I have sought thy precepts.
The wicked have waited for me to destroy me, but I will consider
thy testimonies. I have seen an end of all perfection,
but thy commandment is exceeding broad. Let's pray together. Our glorious and merciful Heavenly
Father, we come into thy holy presence,
looking in faith to thy dear son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. We ask, Lord, that you would
put into our hearts a good hope and that we would have a rest
and a delight in the glorious person of the Lord Jesus Christ. and that we would trust his finished
work of redemption for all our salvation. We cry with David,
Lord, save us. Save us from ourselves. Save
us from our sin. Save us from Satan. Lord, deliver
us from evil. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. Number 229 from the Hardback
Temple, 229. And let's stand once again. Tell me the old, old story of
unseen things above, of Jesus and his glory. of Jesus and his love. Tell me the story simply as to
a little child. For I am weak and weary and helpless
and defiled. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story of
Jesus and his love. Tell me the story slowly, that
I may take it in. That wonderful redemption of
Jephthah for sin. Tell me the story often, for
I forget so soon. The early dew of morning has
passed away at noon. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story of
Jesus and his love. Tell me the story softly with
earnest tones and grave. Remember, I'm the sinner. whom Jesus came to save. Tell me the story always, if
you forgive me. I'm sorry. In any time of trouble, a comforter
to me. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story of
Jesus and his love. Tell me the same old story. when you have cause to fear that
this world's empty glory is costing me too dear. Yes, and when that world's glory
is dawning on my soul, Tell me the old, old story. Christ Jesus makes the whole. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story. of Jesus and his love. Please be seated. The Lord enables you to pray
for our brethren in Texas and in Louisiana. They're going to
have a rough night tonight. We know a little bit about those
experiences. Tricia talked to Winna today.
And of course, they're not having services tonight. They're all
getting ready for the hurricane. And then also Milton Howard is
in Ball, Louisiana. I think they're pretty close
to the path of that. Also, Jerry, you're here. Jerry's mother has been placed
into hospice. She was diagnosed with COVID
and she's been very ill for some time, but they have her on non
life support hospice now, I guess that happened today or it's okay. All right. And then Jennifer's
going back to our Jennifer's going back to see her doctor
tomorrow She's still got flu in our lungs and she's having
a real problem recovering from her surgery a month or so ago
so I don't know if they're gonna have to drain that fluid off
or what but We appreciate y'all's prayers for her I've Taken from verse 94 my title
for this message is the ground of our salvation, the ground
of our salvation. What is the foundation for hope
in being saved? David in Psalm 119 verse 94 says,
I am thine, save me, for I have sought thy precepts. Lord, the
only The only hope that I have that
you would save me is the declared truth of your word. What you've
given me, revealing to me the person and the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ in your word is the only place I can go. That's
the only ground of my salvation. That's the only hope that I have
that you would save me because you said, I am thine, save me. for I have hoped in thy precepts. I remember a man told me one
time who had taken the sovereignty of God to the extent of saying
you should never call on anybody to be saved. because they're already saved. God's already saved everyone
in the covenant of grace before time ever began. And so salvation's
already settled and that's not an issue anymore. What we need
to do now is teach people how to live a Christian life. And
really what he was saying to me was, I want you to tell everybody
else how they should live so I can glory in how I'm living. That is so contrary to the scriptures. David said in Psalm 55 verse
16, as for me, I shall call upon God and the Lord shall save me. Believers understand that they're
always in need of being saved. Salvation is not something that
we look back to in an experience of time and say, well, you know,
we've got that taken care of. Let's move on to bigger and better
things. to be saved is the bigger and better thing. There is nothing
more important than that. And the child of God is always
crying with David in Psalm 69, verse one, save me, oh God, for
the waters are come up unto my soul. The conscious awareness
of our sin and the need to be saved from ourselves and from
our sin and from the the unbelief involved in our
circumstances, we're always crying, Lord, save me, save me. In another
place in Psalm 109 verse 26, save me according to thy mercy. According to thy mercy, Lord,
I need to be saved. That's the one thing I need more
than anything else. Lord, give me this day my daily
bread, save me. We continue to come to Christ
for salvation. I don't know of a prayer that
I pray more often. Lord, save me, deliver me. Have mercy upon my soul. Jeremiah
put it like this when he said, heal me, oh Lord, and I shall
be healed. Save me and I shall be saved.
Lord, if you'll save me, just save me. That's the heart and
soul of the gospel. We live in a day when the gospel
is being promoted as some sort of health, wealth, and prosperity
thing where, you know, the real need that you have is for God
to bless you in your circumstances. And we know that the real need
that we have is for the Lord to take away our sin and to save
us and to give us a good hope in Christ. This gospel is about
dying, isn't it? It's about the hope that the
Lord gives to His children in knowing that when they draw their
last breath that they'll enter into His presence and that they
will be saved forevermore. David begins in Psalm 119 and
verse 105, when he says, I'm sorry, in verse 89, when he says,
forever, oh Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. Lord, here's
the ground of my salvation, your word. This is what the Lord said. And Luke, when he said, heaven
and earth will pass away, but my word will never pass away. Everything else in Hebrews chapter
12, the scripture tells us that God shakes those things which
can be shaken, so that those things which cannot be shaken
are sure, they'll never move. Those things which are temporal,
are the things which we see, the things that we don't see.
Those are the eternal things. Those are the things settled
in heaven in the Word of God. The ground of our salvation is
the eternal Word of God, the written Word of God and the living
Word of God. And we don't separate the two,
do we? We know that this book is the written Word of God, which
reveals to us the living Word of God. Christ, who is the word
who became flesh and dwelt among us. We beheld his glory as the
glory of the only begotten, the one who's full of grace and full
of truth. It's the Lord Jesus who ascended back into glory
as the word of God, not void, not void, but having accomplished
that purpose for which God sent him to save his people. That's what he came to do. He
didn't come to educate us, to make life easy for us. He came
to save us from our sins. You shall call his name Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins. This is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. That's our greatest need, isn't
it? And the Lord's given us faith to believe that his word is sure. Peter put it like this in first
Peter chapter one, when he said, all flesh is as grass and all
the glory of man as the flower of the grass, the grass withereth
and the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord
endureth forever." This is the eternal forever Word of God on
which we base all our hope, the revealed truth that God has given
us in His Word of the Lord Jesus Christ. What else? Where else
are we going to go? And this is the Word, Peter goes
on to say, which by the gospel is preached unto you. If the
gospel of God's free grace in the finished work of Christ,
declared by God in the covenant of grace, elected by the Father,
redeemed by the Son, regenerated by the Spirit of God, if that
gospel message is not preached, then the word of God's not being
preached. And so, the word of the Lord endureth forever, and
this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. Forever, O Lord, this is the
ground of my salvation, that the word of God is settled, it
is established in heaven forever. It cannot be moved, it cannot
be shaken, it cannot be changed. Look at verse 90. Thy faithfulness
is unto all generations. Thou has established the earth
and it abideth. God spoke and created all that
we know in the physical world. And he holds all things together
by the word of his power. So he's the creator and the sustainer
of all of life. And that's what David's saying,
thy faithfulness is unto all generations. Lord, just as you
were faithful to create, and just as you are faithful to sustain
all that you created, so Lord, your faithfulness extends to
every generation. Oh, what hope we have, brethren.
God is faithful to his word. Man's not. You and I aren't always
faithful to our word. Listen to what Paul said in 2
Timothy 2 verse 13. There's our hope. When we find
ourselves floundering and wavering in our faith, He remaineth faithful, for he
cannot deny himself. It is impossible for our God
to lie. We have the revealed truth of the gospel given to
us in the word of God, about the word of God, on which to
hang all our hopes when we cry unto him, Lord, save me. And
we have, and that's our assurance. Our assurance is that God's faithful.
Listen to what John said in Revelation chapter 19, verse 11. I saw the
heavens opened and behold, a white horse and he that sat upon him
was called faithful and true. The very name of our God is given
to us as faithful, faithful. He is faithful. And faith, our
faith, is trusting Him for His faithfulness. That's what faith
is. Revelation chapter 17, verse
14 says, the Lamb made war with His enemies, and they that were
with Him are called and chosen and faithful. chosen of God in the covenant
of grace, called by the Spirit of God, and they remain faithful
by the grace of God. Those who are called and those
who are chosen will remain faithful. If a person hears the gospel
and gives testimony to believing the gospel,
and they really don't believe the gospel, they eventually will
depart from the gospel. If you can leave the gospel,
you will. It's just that simple. It will
happen. You'll be disappointed and you'll
be discouraged and you'll just move on to something else. God's
people can't leave. They just can't. He won't let
them. And that's why he said they're called and they're chosen
and they are faithful. They are faithful because He
remains faithful and He cannot deny Himself. And His children
are part of His body. It's His faithfulness that keeps
us faithful. The perseverance of the saints
is the preservation of the Spirit. It's the Spirit of God that preserves
us and keeps us. Turn with me to 1 Peter chapter
4. First Peter chapter four. Verse 19. Wherefore, let them
suffer according to the will of God. Let them that suffer according
to the will of God. commit the keeping of their souls
to Him in well-doing as unto a faithful creator. He made us, He created us in
Christ Jesus, He's faithful, and He's ordained sufferance
for us. This idea that the Christian life is a life of ease and comfort
and prosperity and peace with all men. That is so contrary
to everything that the Lord tells us. He said, I did not come to
bring peace. I came to bring a sword. Divide. To have peace with God, there's
going to be people that you're not gonna have peace with. That's
what the Lord's saying. And sometimes those people are
gonna be of your own household. And it's gonna be a great conflict.
This matter of, you know, we've been studying in Acts chapter
seven, Stephen's testimony. And, you know, this idea that
God has a, God loves you and has this wonderful plan for your
life. Well, God's wonderful plan for Stephen's life was for him
to be stoned. Just within a few minutes after
he finished preaching the gospel, they stoned him, they killed
him. They killed him. You know, this is, and he wasn't,
you know, they would tell us, well, if he, you know, if you
just had more faith, you wouldn't suffer. No, he suffered because
of his faith, because of his faith. And that's the way the
Lord's ordained it to be. He is faithful. Let me show you
a passage. I heard someone, misinterpret
this passage recently. If you turn with me to the book
of Daniel, Daniel chapter 3, you remember when Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego refused to bow to the figure of Nebuchadnezzar
and he threw them or threatened to throw them into the fiery
furnace, which he eventually did. And In Daniel chapter 3
at verse 17, this matter is by the decree
of the watchers and the demand by the word of the holy ones
to the intent that the living may know, I'm sorry, I'm in the
wrong chapter. I knew that verse wasn't right. Okay. Chapter three, verse 17. Chapter three, verse 17. Okay,
everybody with me there? Chapter three, verse 17. And
if it be so, this was Shadrach and Meshach's response and Abednego's
response to the threats of Nebuchadnezzar to throw them into the fiery
furnace. And they said, if it be so, our God whom we serve
is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace. and he
will deliver us out of thy hand, O king. But if not, be it known
unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship
the golden image which thou hast set up." Now I heard someone
speak on this verse recently, and they said, well, you know,
we're to always believe that God will deliver us from our
circumstances. And And it was illustrated by
this man praying actually on his deathbed, saying, Lord, I
know that you're going, I believe that you're going to heal me.
I believe that you're going to heal me. But if you don't, I'll
trust you anyway. That's not what these men are
saying. What these men are saying is, our God can deliver us from
your fiery furnace. And he will, one way or the other,
he will deliver us from you. And it might be that we die in
the fiery furnace, but through that death, we're going to be
delivered from you. Either way, we're not going to
bow to your God. Now, what's the point here? Our
God can deliver us from sickness, and we pray that He would. He
can deliver us from difficulties, we pray that He would. But it
may not be His will. And either way, He will deliver
us from every bit of it one day soon. One day soon, He's gonna
deliver us from it all. That's our hope. And in the meantime,
we will not bow. we will trust the word of our
living God. 1 John 1, verse 9, he is faithful
to forgive. Brings us to that place to where
we take sides with him against ourselves and we admit that we're
sinners and we confess our sins and he is faithful. to forgive
us of our sins and cleanse us of all of our unrighteousness.
Oh, what a faithful God we have. He's going to deliver us one
day. Don't doubt God's faithfulness because he leaves you in a bad
place, in a difficult place, in a hard place, because one
day he's going to deliver us all from every bit of it. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
11, what the scripture says about Sarah, Hebrews chapter 11. Through faith, also Sarah herself
received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child
when she was past age, 90 years old, because she judged him faithful
who had promised. She judged him faithful. God
had promised. She believed that he was faithful
to his promises. Abraham believed God. and it
was counted unto him for righteousness. He believed that God would be
faithful to his promises. Titus, in giving us the qualifications
of an elder, says that he is to be holding fast the faithful
word, that he may be able to with sound doctrine, both to
exhort and convince the gainsayer is the word of God is called
faithful. Turn to me to 1 Thessalonians
chapter five. 1 Thessalonians chapter five. We'll
begin reading in verse 22. abstain from all appearance of
evil. And the very God of peace sanctify
you wholly, completely. And I pray God, your whole spirit
and soul and body be preserved blameless until the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful, faithful is he that
called you who also will do it. He's faithful. He was faithful
to call us. What was he being faithful to
when he called us? He was being faithful to the
promise that he gave to the Son and to the Spirit in the covenant
of grace before the foundation of the world. The Lord was being
faithful to his word. Go back with me to our text. This is the ground on which we
stand as we call upon our God to save us. That His Word is
settled in the heavens. That He, as the creator and sustainer
of all physical life, is also the creator and sustainer of
all spiritual life. And He is faithful. He's faithful
and true to His Word. to finish what he promised he
would do. This is our, what more sure hope
can we have? What more definite place can
we stand to call on to our God to save us? Look at verse 91. They continue this day. Now he's
talking about creation. He says, they continue this day
according to thine ordinances. for all are thy servants. Everything continues right on
schedule. Lord, you created it, you sustain
it, and everything in creation is your servant, some willing,
some unwilling. Men and beast, plants, molecules,
Atoms, subatomic particles, everything is exactly where God purposed
it to be in creation. Our God is sovereign. Go back
with me to Isaiah chapter 14. Isaiah 14. Look at verse 24. the Lord of hosts hath sworn."
He's promised. He settled it in his word, saying,
surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass. And as
I have purposed, so shall it stand. And only God can say that. When
I, God doesn't have idle thoughts. You and I have idle thoughts.
Now I read something somebody wrote recently. They said, you're
going to be judged for every thought that you've had. Well,
that'd be true. We're in trouble. We're in trouble. Our minds are full of idle thoughts. God's never had an idle thought. Every thought that he had was
for the purpose of his purpose. And that's what he's saying here.
Look down to verse 27. For the Lord of hosts hath purposed,
and who shall disannul it? And his hand is stretched out,
and who shall turn it back? Our omnipotent, immutable, sovereign
God is in absolute control of all things. What a fool it is
not to bow to that. What a fool it is not to say,
yes, Lord. And yet the world is full of
fools who raise their fist to an omnipotent, sovereign, immutable
God, an omniscient God. He knows everything. And they
say, we'll not have this God reign over us. Well, I'm sorry.
He does. He does. Now, let me say this, the scripture
makes this clear. Let no man say when he's tempted
that he's tempted of God, for God tempted no man to evil, neither
is he tempted. We are tempted when we're drawn
away of our own lust. And when lust is conceived and
bringing forth sin, and bringing sin, bringing forth lust, bringing
forth death, we are fully responsible for our sin. And we meet the
sovereign God, He makes that clear to us, that we can't blame
our sin on anybody, we can't excuse it, we can't justify it. I wrote this statement out, I'm
gonna say it as clearly as I can. Anyone who uses the sovereignty
of God to excuse their sin have never bowed in loving worship
to the God who is sovereign. Anyone who uses the sovereignty
of God to say, well, you know, you know, it was it was ordained
that I should do that. So I just did it. Never met in
loving worship the God who is sovereign or you wouldn't accuse
him of your sin, would you? Everything in this world serves
God. Every person, everything. That's what he, go back with
me, look at, look. They continue this day, according to thine
ordinances, everything is continuing exactly as you ordained it to
continue. With the armies of heaven, with
the inhabitants of the earth, No man can stay his hand. No
man can say unto him what doeth will. He hath done whatsoever
he wills. All men are servants in his hands. Now the greatest example of the
most horrible sin that man ever committed that God used for his
glory was the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. He ordained
it to be and yet with wicked hands would crucify and slain
the word of God, the son of God, man fully responsible, God absolutely
sovereign, and uses man's evil devices for his own glory. I know there's a mystery involved
in that, but that's part of faith, isn't it? If we had a God that
can be completely compartmentalized and understood and defined and
explained, he wouldn't be much of a God, would he? These are
the things we know to be true about our God from his word. So we just take what God says
to us about himself from his word. And we have in his word
everything we need to know about him. Look at verse 92. Unless thy law had
been my delights, I should have perished in my
afflictions. Unless I knew from your word
that you were sovereign in all my circumstances, they would
have overwhelmed me. That's what David's saying. Unless
I knew from your word that you were sovereign in all my circumstances,
my afflictions would have overwhelmed me. but I was able because of
your word to rest in your sovereign purpose. Look at verse 93. This is the ground of our hope
in being saved. We're going to cry out to God,
save me, based on what? What is the foundation of that
prayer? What hope do we have in that prayer that God will
answer him? Well, here he's telling us. Look at verse 93. I will never forget thy precepts,
for with them thou hast quickened me. Thou hast quickened me. We're not born again with corruptible
things such as silver and gold, but with the very word of God.
This is the means by which the Lord quickens us, makes us alive,
and continues to quicken us. Do you feel your heart get cold
and you feel spiritually dead? This is why we're here right
now, isn't it? This is our hope that the Lord
would take His word and quicken us again, breathe life into us
again. Turn to me to first Peter chapter
one. Verse 23, being born again, born
from above. except you be born of the Spirit.
You cannot perceive the kingdom of God. You cannot worship God. You cannot enjoy God. You cannot
have any hope that God has saved you until you're born again. Being born again, not of corruptible
seed, not of the will of man, not of our works, not of anything
that can be shaken, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. The word of God is alive and
it's sure and it doesn't change and it's forever. And this is
the means by which God saves us and continues to save us. James put it like this when he
said, of his own will begat he us, birthed us. Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth, with the word of truth. Hebrews chapter four, verse 12
says, for the word of God is quick. That means it's alive. and it is powerful and it is
sharper than any two-edged sword. The two-edged sword analogy is
that the word of God kills and it heals. It kills and it makes
alive. It puts to death the old man
and it gives us new life in Christ. It's sharper than any two-edged
sword piercing even to the dividing asunder, the soul and the spirit
and the joints and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts
and the intents of the heart." So God's Word speaks and it reveals
our corrupt hearts for what they are. And faith is quickened by that,
made alive by that. This is the ground that we have
for calling out to our God to save us. Lord, save me. Look at verse 96. I have seen
an end of all perfection, but thy commandment is exceeding
broad. And the commandment here is the
word of God. It's exceeding broad. What David's saying is, I have
seen that you are going to bring to completion all the things
of this world, but your word is eternal. That's what he's
saying. This word perfection, I've seen
the end, the perfect, the completion. of everything that you've created.
This is exactly what the Lord said. And we open this, that
we close the same way we open. So exactly what the Lord said
when he said, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word
shall never pass away. His word stands. The only ground of our foundation.
Verse 94, I am thine, save me, for I have sought thy precepts. The only ground or foundation
on which I can hope for salvation is God's word, which reveals
the glorious person and the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. I've got no place else to go.
I've got no other claim to make other than the word of God. Look
at verse 95. The wicked have waited for me
to destroy me, but I, And that this word consider is unfortunate
because the way we use it, you know, well, I'll take that into
consideration. That's not what he's saying at all. The word
consider here is to understand or to discern. And so what David's
saying is, the wicked have waited for me to destroy me, but I have
an understanding and a discernment of your word. And I know that
the wicked will be destroyed and that only those who believe
your word will be saved. Notice in verse 96, thy commandment
is exceeding broad. It is broad enough to speak to
everything that we need, faith, and practice what we believe
and how we live, what we think and how we are to speak. It's
all given to us in the word of God. Thy commandment is exceedingly
broad. Turn with me again to 2 Peter
chapter one. 2 Peter chapter one. beginning at verse one, Simon
Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that
have obtained like precious faith. They're trusting in your faithfulness
and in your word. With us through the righteousness
of God and our savior, Jesus Christ. He's my righteousness
before God. Grace and peace be multiplied
unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our
Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all
things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge
of him that hath called us to glory and virtue. Everything
we need is found in Christ. And everything we know about
Christ is given to us in the word of God, whereby are given
unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these, by these
precious promises, thy word or thy commandments are exceedingly
broad. They are broad enough to cover
everything that we need. Everything we need, we can discover
in the word of God. be revealed to us, that by these
you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust." Everything that we need
revealed to us in the glorious person of Christ, in the word,
thy commandments are exceedingly broad. Broad enough to meet our
every need in life and in faith. It is broad enough to reveal
all that we need to know about God. You know there's things about
God, this is such a foolish statement to begin that way, there are
infinite things about God that He didn't reveal to us. When,
well you remember when John was caught up into the third heaven
and and he saw things that were unspeakable, and And Paul speaks
of his visions in heaven and says that he could not describe
them. There's things about, if God
gave us more than he gave us in his word, it would be to our
destruction. What I'm saying to you is that
everything we need to know about God is, His commandments are
exceedingly broad. They're sufficiently broad to
reveal to us everything we need to know about God. All scripture
is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine
and for reproof and for correction and for instruction in righteousness
that the man of God may be thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
Everything we need. Nothing more, nothing less. It's
exceedingly broad. It's exceedingly broad, sufficient
to meet our every need. It's exceedingly broad, sufficient
to reveal to us everything we need to know about God. And it
is broad enough to speak to every person, every person. of any culture, of any language,
of any ethnicity, of any religion, rich or poor, bond or free, male
or female, Jew or Greek, and of every generation. You know,
we're preaching the exact same gospel. We may intersperse an
illustration here or there that they wouldn't know anything about
in a previous generation. But other than that, we're preaching
exactly the same gospel that was preached 2,000 years ago.
Hasn't changed. Matter of fact, it's the same
gospel that was preached to Adam in the garden. It's just more
of it is revealed now in the New Testament. But it's exceedingly
broad in that it meets every man, regardless of his culture,
regardless of his experience, regardless of his era in history,
it meets him exactly where he is and answers every question
that he could ever have about God and about himself and about
how it is that God saves sinners. Save me, O Lord. Thy commandments
are exceedingly broad and is broad enough to save anyone. Save anyone. the self-righteous
religious person, the self-indulgent irreligious person, the Saul
of Tarsus, or the demoniac of the Gadarenes, Mary the mother
of Jesus, or that infamous sinner Mary Magdalene from whom seven
demons were cast. Anna, you remember Anna? When
Peter, when Joseph and Mary took the Lord Jesus at eight days
old into the temple, and Simeon was there, and the consolation
of Israel had been revealed to him, and he offers that great
word of praise, and the scripture says there was a woman in there
who had lost her husband. And after having lost her husband,
her name was Anna, she committed the rest of her life to the service
of God in the temple. And that was her life. And you
know, she needed to be saved with this broad commandment in
the same way that that woman at the well at Sychar, who had
been married five times, needed to be saved. You see, it's the
same message. It doesn't matter. Thy commandment is exceedingly
broad. It's broad enough to reveal everything
we need to know. It's broad enough to meet our
every need. It's broad enough to save every
person, regardless of where they're coming from and of every generation. Luke addressed the book of Acts
and the letter of Luke to most excellent Theophilus, who was
obviously a Roman governor of great high esteem and a believer. And he had to be saved exactly
the same way Poor old blind Bartimaeus had to be saved. Thy word, thy
commandments are exceedingly broad. Broad enough, sufficient
enough to save all of God's people, every one of them, who cry out
to him, Lord, I believe, save me, save me. Our Heavenly Father, thank you
for your word. Thank you for the hope of salvation
that you've given us in thy faithfulness and in the faithfulness of thy
dear son, who accomplished our redemption by the sacrifice of
himself. Oh, we ask it in his name. Amen. 40. Let's stand together. Number
40. Great is thy faithfulness, O
God my Father. There is no shadow of turning
with thee. Thou changest not, thy compassions
they fail not. As thou hast been, thou for ever
wilt be. Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies
I see. All I have needed thy hand hath
provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord,
unto me. Summer and winter and springtime
and harvest, sun, moon, and stars in their Courses above join with
all nature in manifold witness to thy great faithfulness, mercy,
and love. Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies
I see. All I have needed, thy hand hath
provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord,
unto me. Pardon for sin and a peace that
endureth. Thine own dear presence to cheer
and to guide. Strength for today and bright
hope for tomorrow. Blessings all mine with 10,000
beside. Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies
I see. All I have needed thy hand hath
provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord,
unto me. Hold on just a second. You want
to say something?