Good evening. Let's open tonight's
service with hymn number 53 from our hardback hymnal, number 53.
Let's all stand together. How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
in a believer's ear. It soothes his sorrows, heals
his wounds, and drives away his fear. Dear name, the rock on
which I build my shield and hiding place, my never failing treasure
filled with boundless stores of grace. Jesus, my shepherd,
brother, friend, my prophet, priest, and king, my Lord, my
life, my way, my end, accept the praise I bring. Weak is the effort of my heart,
and cold my warmest thought. But when I see thee as thou art,
I'll praise thee as I ought. Till then I would thy love proclaim
with every fleeting breath. And may the music of thy name
refresh my soul in death. Please be seated. Good evening. Let's open our
Bibles for our scripture reading tonight to the book of Joshua.
First chapter of Joshua, Joshua chapter one. Well, Seth is here
interviewing for a job, so we're so thankful for that and look
forward to them. Seth graduates in May and Lord
willing, he and Kaylee will be moving here soon as he finishes
school. We're very excited about that,
Seth. And Kaylee. I can remember years ago reading
this from the book of Joshua and thinking, you know, I needed
to figure out a way to be more brave. And now I understand that
these words are in reference to our Joshua, the Lord Jesus
Christ, and that Moses is a picture of the law. And the law couldn't
bring the children of Israel into the promised land. Moses
had to die on the east side of the Jordan. And Joshua, whose
name you know means the same thing that the Lord Jesus' name
means, is the only one that could bring
them in. And so it is with our Joshua,
Christ fulfilled the law and brought us across the Jordan
River into the promised land. Look at, uh, chapter one, we'll
just read the first few verses. Now, after the death of Moses,
the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto
Joshua, the son of none Moses's minister saying, now the death
of Moses is the putting away of the law. It's the crisis,
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth the
law stands in judgment of us, except that Christ fulfilled
it. Moses, my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over
this Jordan, thou and all this people unto the land, which I
do give to them, even to the children of Israel. And when
Joshua came across that river, he brought all of Israel with
him. And this is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ entering
into glory and bringing his people with him. Every place that the
sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto
you as I said unto Moses. From the wilderness of this Lebanon,
even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land
of the Hittites, unto the great sea toward the going down of
the sun shall be your coast. In other words, all this land
belongs to you. There shall not any man be able
to stand before thee in all the days of thy life. What a promise. There shall not any man be able
to stand against thee all the days of thy life. Now, if that's
not a description of the Lord Jesus Christ, as I was with Moses,
so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee nor forsake
thee. Be strong and of good courage,
for unto this people shall thou divide for an inheritance the
land which I swear unto their fathers to give them." Joshua
was going to conquer the land and divide it up among the tribes
and so our Lord conquered death and salvation and divides up
the spoils with his people. This book of the law shall not
depart out of thy mouth. But thou shalt meditate therein
day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all
that is written therein for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous
and then thou shalt have good success. Why was the Lord Jesus
Christ successful in accomplishing the salvation of his people?
Because he kept the law. He fulfilled the law in thought,
in deed, in spirit. Have not I commanded thee? Be
strong and of good courage, be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed,
for the Lord thy God is with thee, whithersoever thou goest."
Now those words are to Christ. Where does our courage come from?
From Christ. Yeah, we look to the Lord Jesus
Christ who did what Joshua did spiritually. And all of our strength
and all of our hope comes from his courage and from his success.
Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
you for opening up that which would be
in a dark mystery to us apart from your work of grace in the
heart. Lord, we thank you for revealing
Christ to us. We thank you for sending your
spirit, lifting him up, causing us to find our hope and our comfort
in his accomplished work of redemption. Thank you, Lord, that we have
a successful advocate, one who has fulfilled the law, one who
has successfully put away all the sins of all of thy people.
Lord, we ask now that you would Comfort our hearts by enabling
us to rest our hope in him. For it's in his name we pray,
amen. Let's stand together once again.
We'll sing hymn number 29 from the Spiral Gospel Hymns hymn
book, number 29. I was lost and did not know it,
rushing madly to my end. ? But my God who's rich in mercy
? Would not let me die in sin ? Hallelujah ? God has saved
me ? Saved me by His sovereign grace. Jesus died. The Spirit called me. I am saved by sovereign grace. Chosen by my Heavenly Father
and redeemed by Jesus' blood, I am justified, forgiven, and
accepted by my God. Alleluia! God has saved me, saved me by
His sovereign grace. Jesus died. The Spirit called me. I am saved by sovereign grace. God the Spirit came in power,
gave me life and set me free. He revealed my blessed Savior,
and created faith in me. Hallelujah! God has saved me, saved me by
His sovereign grace. Jesus died, the Spirit called
me. I am saved by sovereign grace. God has saved me and will keep
me by the power of His grace. He will guide, guard, and protect
me till I see my Savior's face. Hallelujah, God has saved me,
Saved me by His sovereign grace. Jesus died, the Spirit called
me, I am saved by sovereign grace. Please be seated. Only kind of grace there is,
isn't it? Turn to me and your Bibles to
Psalm 107, please. Psalm 107. If you'll turn over to the last
verse of this psalm, this is my hope for tonight. I've titled
this message, The Observations of the Wise. The Observations
of the Wise. Whoso is wise and will observe
these things, understand these things, believe these things,
what things, all the things that are mentioned previously in this
psalm. Whosoever is wise and will observe
these things, believe these things, understand these things, even
they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. I hope
we'll leave here tonight having a little bit better understanding
of God's grace. That's what his loving kindness
is. The loving kindness of the Lord is his mercy and his grace
toward his people. And that the Lord will give to
us that wisdom in Christ to observe the things that he's given us
in his word. Because that's the revelation
of truth. There's a way that seems right
unto man, but in the end, that way leads to death. And by nature,
every man does what's right in his own eyes. And if the Lord
doesn't speak truth to our hearts by his word and show us the wisdom
of Christ and make Christ to be our wisdom, then we'll not
observe the things of God. We'll go through this world just
seeing things with a natural eye. The Lord gives us an eye
to see the truth, an eye to believe, a heart to believe. then we'll
have an understanding of his grace. Let's go to the beginning of
Psalm 107. That's the conclusion of the
matter. That's where we're gonna start
with the conclusion and hopefully end with that same conclusion.
Give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good. It's always right
to give thanks to the Lord because the Lord is always good. He's
always good. We may not understand what he's
doing, but it's good. His nature will not allow him
to do anything but that which is good. Why callest thou me
good? There's none good but God. And what does the scripture say
about us? In me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. And speaking of Moses on Mount
Sinai, what did the Lord say to Moses? I'll cause my goodness
to pass before thee. So if the Lord reveals his goodness
to us, then we'll be thankful in all things, knowing that all
things are the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning us. The
spirit of gratitude and thanksgiving is founded in the goodness of
God. Give thanks unto the Lord for
he is good, for his mercy, his mercy, Now just so you see the
word endureth is in italics. You know what that means. It's
the translator's way of trying to put time into eternity. And that's exactly what that
word does. Just leave it out. His mercy
is forever. His mercy never had a beginning
and never had an end. It's not that it begins now and
endures forever. It is forever. It's eternal. Everything about our God is eternal.
He doesn't have a beginning or an end of anything at all. Well, he's the glorious I am,
isn't he? Self-existent eternal God. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so. Oh, with the heart man believeth
under righteousness and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. What do we say? So what do we
say? What does the redeemed of the Lord say? Those that have
been bought, those have been purchased. Those that don't belong
to themselves, they belong to God. They were bought with the
precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what do they say? What do they say? Our God's good.
And the goodness of God is seen perfectly. in the sacrifice that
Christ made in order to redeem me. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so. Let them confess their faith. Let them declare His righteousness
and His glory. And those that are wise will
observe these things, and their understanding of His grace will
increase in their hearts. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so, He hath redeemed. He did the redeeming. We don't
redeem ourselves. He paid the full price. We don't
add anything to what the Lord Jesus Christ paid to redeem his
people. He gets all the glory for the
price of redemption. The price of redemption was his
precious blood. God would settle for nothing
less and he will take nothing more. He's completely satisfied
with the work of redemption that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished
for his people on Calvary's cross. So the redeemed of the Lord,
they say so. They say the Lord is good. They
say he gets all the glory and he gets all the praise for he
did all the redeeming. He didn't make redemption possible
when he died on Calvary's cross. That's what we hear in religion,
isn't it? Men say, well, God You know, Christ is the Redeemer,
and He made redemption. He gives it to man as an offer. No, He didn't make an offering
of redemption. He redeemed. He successfully
redeemed His people. His offer was to the Father,
and the Father accepted everything that He did, and the Father saw
the travail of His soul, and the Father was satisfied. And everything necessary for
the redemption of God's elect was accomplished on Calvary's
cross. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, for he has redeemed
his people. He did all the redeeming all
by himself, and he delivered them from the hand of the enemy.
You know, if the Lord had not bought us, if he had not redeemed
us, we'd be in bondage with the enemy. We'd be enslaved to our
sin. in that we would not be able
to see or believe or hear the things of God. That's what being
dead in trespasses and sin is. You're spiritually dead. You're
spiritually blind. You're unable to see the things
of God. You're unable to believe on Christ.
And that's what the Lord delivered us from. There was a time when
we were dead in our trespasses and our sins. And the Lord Jesus
Christ redeemed us from our enemy. There was a time when we were
held in bondage by Satan. And the Lord Jesus Christ broke
down the gates of hell. He came in and he led captivity
captive, didn't he? And he made his people captive
to himself. And he redeemed us from our enemy. Now we love God's law. God's law is holy. God's law
is just. God's law is good. But outside
of Christ, God's law, we're at enmity with the law of God. And
the law of God can do nothing but judge us, condemn us, and
slay us. And the Lord Jesus Christ redeemed
us from that enemy. By fulfilling the law for us,
he delivered us from all our enemies. He conquered death. He conquered the grave. He conquered
hell. By His resurrection, He redeemed
us. He's seated at the right hand
of God. He ever lives. He makes intercession for His
people. The Lord Jesus Christ is... Let the redeemed of the
Lord say so. Let them rejoice. Let them declare Him as their
Redeemer and His success. You see, the world doesn't do
that. They say, well, Christ made an offer of redemption,
but But I had to do my part. I had to throw in my two cents
worth. I had to make a decision. I had to exercise my free will
in order for what he did to be effectual. And that's just not
true. That gives all the glory and
all the honor to man. The Lord Jesus Christ was successful. He was our Joshua. What did the
Lord say to Joshua? We just read it in Joshua chapter
one. If you keep my law perfectly, then you will have success. And
the people will possess this land. And that's exactly what
the Lord Jesus Christ did for us. He got the success. He got the glory. He got the
victory. And because he kept God's law. He gathered them out of the lands.
Now, this is the same word that we saw in Psalm 106, verse 47,
Sunday morning. Remember that? You look over
on that same, probably on the same page in your Bible. Save
us, O Lord, our God, and gather us from among the heathen. Bring
us together. Call us out. Church us. That's the word there. And that's
what the Lord does. He goes into the frigid, cold
north of man-made religion. He goes into the far east of
unbelief and to the setting of the sun and to the south. He gathers together his people.
Look at what it says. He gathered them out of the lands
from the east and from the west and from the north and from the
south. God has a, he's got a chosen people. And the scripture says
in Revelation chapter five, there are every nation and every tribe
and every tongue and every people. We don't know where they are,
but he does. People say, well, if God has elect people, and
what if there's one of God's elect over in, you know, in some
remote place of the world where the Lord knows where they are,
he'll either get them to the gospel. He'll get to the gospel
to them. He's not going to lose one of his sheep. He said, I'm
gonna leave the 99, I'm gonna go get the one that's lost, and
not one. That's the parable of the prodigal, isn't it? This
son who was lost is now, and that's it, we're all like that.
We've gone into the far country, and we've taken our inheritance,
and we've wasted it, in, in, in riotous living. And that word
riotous just means senseless. You know, the only, the things
of God make any sense, the things of this world don't, but that's
what we do. And, and, um, and that son was
brought home, wasn't he? He brought home and the, and
the man with the lost sheep and a woman with a lost coin, all
those three parables in Luke chapter 15 are for the purpose
of saying. God's not going to lose one coin,
He's not going to lose one sheep, He's not going to lose one son.
He's going to gather them together from the four corners of the
earth. He knows where they are and He will be just as successful
in making them willing in the day of His power and bringing
them to faith in Christ as He was in redeeming them on Calvary's
cross. He's going to finish the work
of redemption. The work of redemption started in election in the covenant
of grace, didn't it? It was fulfilled in the sacrifice
that Christ made on Calvary's cross, and it's being carried
out by the Spirit of God in the hearts of God's people until
the last of God's elect is gathered together, and then there's no
more need for this world, is there? No more need. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so. Let them rejoice. Our God is sovereign. Our God
is omnipotent. He's not the weakling God that
you hear men talk about, who can't get it done. He's wringing
his hands. He's wishing that men would let him have his way
in their lives. He's begging with men to let
him save them. That's not God. That's just a,
well, Henry Mahan used to say, that's a peanut God. You know,
that's just a figment of man's imagination. He doesn't have
any power. He said, that's not our God.
Let the redeemed of the Lord say that he's my redemption.
He's gathering his people. He's going to be successful in
bringing every one of them to himself, wherever they are, north,
east, south, or west. They wandered in the wilderness
in a solitary way. They found no city to dwell in. This world that we live in is
a wilderness, isn't it? It's a dry and thirsty land.
Children of Israel thought they were just wandering around. They,
they spent 40 years doing what they could have done in 40 days,
getting from Egypt to the promised land. And, uh, and to them, it
was just a, it was just a wandering, wasn't it? But they really weren't
wandering. They were being led that pillar
of smoke by day. And that pillar of fire by night
was always there and always led them every step of the way. You
know, we talk to older believers that the Lord saves late in life,
and they just lament over the fact, you know, I feel like I've
wandered all my life. I've wasted all these years,
you know, and no, you haven't. The Lord did everything. He led
every step of the way in order to bring you to himself. And Joshua will successfully
bring every child of God into the promised land. And that's
what, that's what the Lord said, let the redeemed of the Lord
say. So we're understanding the wise understands these things
and has some better understanding of the, of the, of the loving
kindness and the grace of God. This is the, this is the evidence
of God's grace. They found no city to dwell in.
What does it say in Hebrews that Abraham looked for a city which
had foundations, whose builder and maker was God. And he found
no, he found no place in this, in this world. Kind of like the
dove that left Noah's Ark and she found no place to light her
feet, the scripture says. She wasn't like the raven. The
raven left and never came back. Why? Because he found plenty
of dead carcasses that he could feed on. But the raven, I mean
the dove, had to come back to the Ark. And she found a place
of rest in the Ark. We can't find anything in this
world to satisfy the need of our soul. And that's a good thing. We try. The Lord lets us drink
from those broken cisterns and he lets us get sick with the
polluted waters of this world. And, and, and he, and he causes
us to see once again, there's only one river that's clear as
crystal that flows from the throne of God. And that's the, that's
the living water that the Lord Jesus Christ gives when he gives
himself. And so he's saying here, they wandered in the wilderness,
they found no city to dwell in. Turn with me to that passage
in Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. Yes. Yes. Look at verse 10, for he
looked for a city which hath foundations. What is the foundation? The Lord
Jesus Christ is the foundation. The promises of God are the foundation
and all the promises of God are yay and amen in Christ. This city has foundations. The
cities of this world don't have foundations. They're being shaken
every time. And the things that we look for
to plant our lives on, the Lord shakes them up, doesn't he? In
order to cause us, there's only one place, there's only one city
which hath foundation, whose builder and maker is God, not
man. We try to plant our feet in foundations
that have been built by man and they're just not stable, are
they? Skip down with me to verse 13. These all died in faith, not
having received the promises, but having seen them afar off
and were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that
they were strangers and pilgrims in the earth. They wandered in
the wilderness and they could find no city to dwell in. They
couldn't find a place to rest, to sit and to To have any peace or comfort,
they were just constantly in the wilderness. This is a picture
of that heavenly Jerusalem. This is a picture of Christ.
This is a picture of his church. That's where we find our rest.
And we believe the promises of God. We believe that all scripture
is given by inspiration of God. And it's all profitable, every
bit of it. And it's profitable in that it
points us to that city. which have foundations, whose
builder and maker is God, at heavenly Jerusalem, at heavenly
home. And we say with Abraham, we're
pilgrims, we're strangers in this world. We don't belong in
this world. This world's not our home. We're
just gonna be here for just a little while. And all of our values
and all of our beliefs about God and about ourselves and about
salvation are contrary to everything this world believes. They're
just the opposite. Well, brother, nothing's changed.
Nothing's changed. The Lord's talking about these
Old Testament saints. Look at verse 14 in Hebrews chapter
11. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek
a country. We're seeking a different country,
aren't we? We're seeking a heavenly home. We're not putting down
roots in this world. And we seek to honor the Lord
and do You know, whatever opportunities the Lord gives us to be faithful
and to do right in this life, but this world's not our home.
We're pilgrims, we're strangers in this world. And truly, look
at verse 15, and truly, if they had been mindful of that country
from which they came out, they may have had opportunity to have
returned. They went out from us, for they
were never of us, for had they been of us, they would have remained. A person shows an interest in
the things of God and then departs from the gospel and goes back
to the world. It just means that the Lord never set their affections
on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of
God. They weren't waiting and watching for the Lord Jesus Christ.
They never believed the gospel. For truly, if they had been mindful
of where they came out from, they'd go back. They'd go back. You don't want to go back, do
you? But now they desire a better
country, a better country, that is a heavenly. Wherefore, God
is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for
them a city. I go and prepare a place for
you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself so that
where I am there, you may be also. What'd the Lord Jesus Christ
have to do to prepare a place for us? He had to go to the cross,
didn't he? He had to, he had to fulfill
all righteousness. He had to, he had to be a servant
obedient, even unto death and the death of the cross. He had
to ascend. He had to, he had to rise, race
from the dead in order to conquer the grave. And he had to ascend
back in glory. and take his rightful place at the right hand of the
majesty on high. And when he sat down, he sat down with the
names of every Israelite, every person that God had chosen in
the covenant of grace and every person that he died for is in
the heavenlies right now in Christ, seated at the right hand of God.
Oh, if we understand these things, we'll have some understanding
of God's grace. The wise man discerns these things and has
an understanding of the loving kindness of God. Go back with me to Psalm 107.
We can't find when the Lord When the Lord gives you a new
nature, when he gives you the mind of Christ, when he births
you into the kingdom of God and gives you the spirit of God,
you just can't find anything in this world to satisfy that.
You wander in this world, you try to, you try to, Satisfying
thing but you but your soul Your soul was longing for only that
which can be given to you spiritually in Christ So they they wandered
in the in the wilderness, but they they found no city to dwell
in no and that word dwell means to rest And when and when in
Hebrews chapter 4 it says that we labor to enter into his rest
That's what he's talking about This wandering that we experience
in this wilderness, in this dry and thirsty land, and all the
things that we do in order to try to gratify our desires, and
we find no place to rest. And the Lord drives us back again
and again and again to the Lord Jesus. That's laboring to enter
into his rest, resting in Christ. Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ,
relying on him alone for all the hope of our salvation. Hungry and thirsty, hungry and
thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Now there's plenty in this
world that will feed your flesh, plenty. But the only thing that
satisfies the hunger and thirsting after righteousness, well, what'd
the Lord Jesus Christ say? He said, my flesh is meat indeed,
and my blood is drink indeed. And lest except you eat of my
flesh and drink of my blood, you have no life in you. And
then he went on to say, he said, labor not for the meat which
perisheth, but for that meat which endureth to everlasting
life. He's talking about himself. He's
our meat. And when he's talking about eating
his body, he's talking about looking to his life as all our
righteousness before God. When he's talking about drinking
his blood, he's talking about looking to his death on Calvary's
cross as all the hope of our justification before God. The
only way my sin's gonna be covered, the only way my sin's gonna be
taken away is through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we wander in this wilderness,
don't we? And we look for a city and we
can't find no city of rest. And the Lord puts into our hearts,
blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness. Now
that's in the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter five. And you've, you've
seen this before. That doesn't mean you'll be blessed. If you hunger and thirst after
righteousness, that means if you hunger and thirst after righteousness,
you've been blessed. You've been blessed of God. If
you can't find anything in this world to satisfy your soul and
you're hungering and thirsting after something that this world
cannot offer you, you've been blessed. And what's the promise?
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness for
they shall be filled. They will eat of his body and
drink of his blood. They'll be satisfied. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble. They cried unto the Lord in their
trouble. You know, I was talking to a dear brother today and he's
having his, he lives in Ohio, he's having his third knee replacement
in one of his legs. He's already had two in his other
leg. He's on his fifth knee replacement. He's got horrible infection in
his knee, and they may, you know, I don't know what's gonna happen.
He's gonna have surgery next Thursday. But we were talking
about the afflictions of this life, and I quoted that passage that
David mentions in Psalm 119, when David said, before I was
afflicted, I had gone astray, but now I've kept thy word. But
you know, those kind of, The afflictions of this life only
lead believers to Christ. An unbeliever might suffer, well
they do, unbelievers suffer the same thing, believers suffer,
there's no difference in that in terms of physical afflictions,
and an unbeliever may get religious and they may, you know, they
may look for some relief from their troubles. They may, you
know, they may join the church and turn over a new leaf and
get, you know, but as soon as the trouble goes away, they've
got no more need for that, do they? The real affliction, you know,
the Lord The Lord causes these things we see that in James don't
we count it all joy my brethren when you fall into divers temptations
knowing that the trying of your faith work of patience, but let
But let patience have it perfect work, that you might be perfect
and entire, lacking in nothing. The Lord uses these trials and
troubles. And 1 Peter 1 speaks of the same
thing. Our faith being more precious
than gold has to be tried. It has to be tried. And these
afflictions are troubles that cause us to recognize our need
for Christ. But if the affliction only leads
to a deliverance from that affliction, then it hasn't really led us
to Christ. Afflictions, here's what I'm
trying to say, afflictions in and of themselves will never
cause a person to come to Christ. I mean, how many people did the
Lord heal? I know one time he healed 10
lepers and only one of them acknowledged him for who he was. The rest
of the nine were just glad to be delivered from their leprosy.
Isn't that the way most folks are? But there's one affliction. There's
one affliction that never goes away. There's one affliction
that you just have to have Christ all the time for. And that's
your sin. If the Lord ever makes you to
be a sinner and you realize that everything about me is sinful
before God, I'm in desperate need of a Savior. I've got to
have an advocate. I've got to have a righteous
advocate to stand in my stead before God. Then you're always
going to need Christ. You see, it's the gospel that
leads us to Christ, isn't it? It's not afflictions that lead
us to Christ. These afflictions are good for believers in that
it causes them to acknowledge the fact that they are strangers
and pilgrims in this world. And this brother I was just talking
about is older. I think he said he's 79 years
old. And, you know, the Lord's prying our hands loose from this
world, isn't he? Talk to Florence. Florence is
back in the hospital again. She's 89 years old. And some
of her children who are unbelievers are saying to her, You know,
Florence, you're going to get better, and everything's going
to be wonderful. And I sat at her bedside and tried to be as
loving. And I said, Florence, I'm right
behind you, but you're dying. You're dying. I'm dying. But
you're, you know, all indication is you're closer. Don't believe
what they're saying. You spend these last days of
your life seeking the Lord. and rejoicing in the work of
redemption that he's accomplished for you. Listen to scripture,
pray, you know, pray and read God's word. And don't, you know,
I said, you're going to fall more. She, every time she goes
home, she falls and back in the hospital. And I said, you're
going to fall more. You're going to get older. You're
going to, you know, I talk to her like I want somebody to talk
to me when I'm in that shape, when I'm in that place, you know.
Don't tell me everything's going to be wonderful and life's going
to get better and the world's, you know, rosy and sun's going
to come up. Tell me I'm dying. You know, help me to get loose from
this world. They cried unto the Lord in their
trouble. What was their trouble? Their
trouble was that they could find no city in this world to rest
in. They wandered in this wilderness.
They suffered the afflictions of man, but they suffered the
affliction of their own sin, and they could find no place
of rest. And they cried out to the Lord in their trouble. Lord,
save me. Save me. Save me from my sin. Save me from myself. Save me
from Satan. Save me from this world. Everything's
contrary to me. Not just help me get through
this surgery or this, you know, this malady or this financial
trouble or this marital issue or whatever it might be. You
know, those things come and go. And believers and unbelievers
suffer those things alike. But if all a person needs God
for is to get them out of trouble, then when the trouble's over,
they don't need God anymore. We've got a trouble that never
goes away, don't we? That old man's always there, isn't he?
Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body
of this death? Thanks be to God. Through Christ
Jesus, I'm free. I didn't have to keep hearing
about Christ. Keep coming to Christ. Because I've got, I'm
a sinner. They cried unto the Lord in their
trouble, and He delivered them out of all of their distresses. Now, that doesn't mean that He
delivered them from cancer or delivered them from financial
troubles or delivered them from... He delivered them from their
sin. That's what the Lord delivers
us from. when he speaks peace to our hearts
and assures us that everything that God requires for the putting
away of our sin has already been paid. Let the redeemed of the
Lord say so. Let him say so. He's redeemed
me and whatever he might have in store for me. You know, if
this surgery doesn't work out, if I, you know, if I lose my
life, Whatever he does will be right
and it'll be good. Verse seven, and he led them
forth by the right way. He led them forth by the right
way. Now what is leading us forth by the right way? He caused them
to follow Christ. That's what he does. Christ is
the right way. He said, I am the way, the truth
and the life. No man come to the father except
by me. As I recorded this a minute ago, there is a way which seems
right unto man, but in the end, that way leads to death. What's
the way that seems right unto man? Well, if I could just, you
know, if I could just be more of whatever, you know, fill in
the blank. You know, if I could just do
more than, you know, Be a better person, you know, I'll get on
the right path. And that's not what he said.
They fought, they followed Christ. He's the right way. When he cried
out, when we cry out, Lord, I'm in the wilderness. You've redeemed
me. I'm looking for a, I keep looking
for a place to satisfy my, my soul, but there's nothing in
this world. There's no city of rest. And, and we cry out in
our sin and the Lord delivers us from all of our distresses.
And then he points us to Christ, follow him. That's what the,
this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. God never said
that about me and you. He's pleased with us only if
he finds us in Christ. Hear ye him. Follow after Christ. Christ is
our rule of life. He's the one we look to. We're
not following a bunch of rules and regulations. We're following
Christ. We're under the spirit of grace,
the spirit, spirit of liberty, the law of
liberty. Stand fast. in the liberty where
with Christ has made you free and be not entangled again with
the boyoka bondage to go back to the law. They followed Christ. He led them forth by the right
way that they might go to a city of habitation. I looked up that
word habitation. It means a place to sit down. In the old Testament, there was
one piece of furniture that was conspicuously missing in the
tabernacle. And that was a chair. There's
no chair in the tabernacle. Nice. They sacrificed lamb upon
lamb, upon lamb, a Bullock upon Bullock shedding blood every
day. And the priest's work was never done. And as far as I can
tell from the scriptures, there's only one piece of furniture in
heaven. That chair that was missing in
the tabernacle of the old Testament, because the priest's work was
never done. is the throne of God in heaven where Christ is
seated at the right hand of God, having finished the work of redemption. He finished it. It's finished. It's done. Everything necessary
is finished. Who so is wise? There's wise men and fools. Now, I'm foolish a lot. I do a lot of foolish things,
but thank God, I'm not a fool. In the scriptures, a fool is
a person who doesn't know God, doesn't know Christ. And a wise
man is a person who has the spirit of God and knows the Lord Jesus
Christ. So when the scripture says, whosoever
is wise, all the Lord's saying is, whosoever is a believer, whosoever has been given the
grace to believe the gospel and will observe these things,
believe these things, look to these things, even they shall
understand. The grace of God. The loving
kindness of God. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
thank you for your word. We trust that you will be merciful
to speak effectually to our hearts. We ask it in Christ name. Amen. 488 in the hardback 10. Now let's
stand. This wasn't planned, but it's
the same tune that we sang before the message. I will sing of my Redeemer and
His wondrous love to me. On the cruel cross He suffered,
From the curse to set me free. Sing, oh, sing of my Redeemer. With his blood he purchased me. On the cross he sealed my pardon,
paid the debt, and made me free. I will tell the wondrous story,
How my lost estate to save, In the boundless love and mercy
He the ransom freely gave. Sing, O sing of my Redeemer,
of my Redeemer. With His blood He purchased me,
He purchased me, purchased me. On the cross He sealed my part,
in my part, paid the debt and made me free. I will praise my dear Redeemer,
His triumphant power I'll tell. ? How the victory he giveth ?
? Over sin and death and hell ? ? Sing of my Redeemer ? ? Of
my Redeemer ? ? He purchased me ? ? He purchased me ? He sealed
my pardon. He sealed my pardon. And made me free. And made me
free. ? I will sing of my Redeemer
? ? And His heavenly love to me ? ? He from death to life
hath brought me ? ? Son of God with Him to be ? ? Sing, O sing
of my Redeemer ? With his blood he purchased me. On the cross he sealed my pardon,
paid the debt, and made me free.