You'll find your bulletin. Turn
over to the backside. Tom's going to come lead us in
the hymn that's listed there. And also I want to call your
attention to the cleanup schedule for today. All right. Whosoever. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the son of
God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not a high priest,
which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. Let us, let us, therefore, come
boldly. That means with the confidence.
Unto the throne of grace. That we may obtain mercy. And
find. Help. In our time of need. The gospels for the poor and
the needy. If you're poor and you're needy,
the Lord's promised to help us. Let us come boldly. Let's stand
together. Tom, come please. The hymn on
the back of your bulletin. Once my self-righteous soul relied
On my own works with hellish pride, But now whene'er my soul
sings praise, Each note shall echo God's free grace. T'was grace that quickened me
when dead, And grace my soul to Jesus led. Grace brought me pardon from
my sin, And grace subdues my lusts within. "'Tis grace that
sweetens every cross, "'Tis grace supports in every loss. "'In Jesus' grace my soul is
strong, "'Grace is my hope and grace my song. "'Tis grace upholds
when danger's near, By grace alone I persevere. "'Tis grace constrains my soul
to love, God's grace is all they sing above." Tis thus alone of
grace I boast, and tis alone in grace I trust. For all that's
past, grace is my theme. For what's to come, tis still
the same. In countless years of grace I'll
sing, adore and bless my heavenly King. I'll cast my crown before
His throne and shout, free grace, free grace alone. Please be seated. Good morning, good morning, good
morning. Please turn with me to John chapter
4. This is a well-known story about
the woman at the well. I'll try to read this, but there
are two errors that are made in false religion. The first
one is, is they believe in a Messiah, but they don't believe Jesus
of Nazareth is that Messiah. The Jews don't believe today,
nor do the Muslims or the Buddhists. The other great error is those
who believe that Jesus is Messiah, but they deny him of his power
and his purpose. And he's no Messiah at all. And
I want us to read what saith the Lord, because that's all
that really matters. In verse 4 the Lord says, And he must
needs go to Samaria. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria,
which is Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave
to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus
therefore being wearied with his journey, set thus on the
well, and was about the sixth hour. And there cometh a woman
of Samaria, a Gentile, to draw water. Jesus saying to her, Give
me to drink. For his disciples were gone away
into the city to buy meat. Then saith the woman of Samaria
unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of
me, which is a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings
with the Samaritans. And Jesus answered and said unto
her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith
to thee, give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of him, and
he would have given thee living water. The woman saith unto him,
Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From
whence then hast thou the living water? Art thou greater than
our father Jacob, which gave us this well, and drank thereof
himself, and his children, and his cattle? And Jesus answered
and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall
thirst again. If that ain't a picture of religion,
I don't know what it is. Just keep coming back, coming
back, and you're never satisfied. But whosoever drinketh of the
water that I shall give him shall never thirst. But the water that
I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing
up into everlasting life. And the woman saith unto him,
Sir, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither
to draw. And Jesus said to her, go call
thy husband and come hither. And the woman answered and said,
I have no husband. Jesus said in her, thou has well
said, I have no husband for thou has had five husbands and who
whom thou now has does not own thy husband. And that saddest
thou truly. And then this Samaritan woman
said, the woman saith unto him, sir, I perceive that thou are
a prophet. And here's what I want us to
see. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you Jews say
that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. And
Jesus saith to her, woman, believe me, the hour cometh when you
shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship
the Father. You worship you know not what,
for we know that we worship, for the salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now
is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to
worship Him. God is a spirit, and they that
worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth. And the
woman saith unto Him, She had some doctrinal knowledge, but
she didn't know Christ, did she? I know that Messiah cometh, I
know He's coming, which is called Christ. And when He comes, when
He has come, He will tell us all things. And Jesus saying to her, I that
speak unto thee, am He. Then I'd like to turn to 34,
please. Verse 34, the Lord saith unto His disciples, my meat is
to do the will of Him that sent me. and to finish his work. That's what Christ, that's what
the Messiah did. He came and he finished the work
of God the Father. And it is a done and finished
work. Oh, I'm so glad he done all the
work. Because now I can have some comfort
because I know it was done perfectly. Brother Wayne and I was talking,
how many of us It was a time when we knew doctrine and we
didn't know Christ. That happens this very day. Knowing
doctrine will be of no value the day of judgment. Christ is
the one we can save. Let us go to the Lord in prayer. Lord, we've come to the Lord
Jesus Christ. asking that you will enable us
to pray to you aright, and that you will take our prayers as
sin-laden and full of unbelief as they are, and that you, as
our intercessor, will make them acceptable to God the Father.
We ask your blessing upon this services today wherever your
people gather, and we pray for your servants, Brother Greg and
others, You will speak through them, and the words we hear will
be from you, and your spirit will be upon them and allow them
to declare you faithfully, concisely, and truthfully. And as your people,
oh Lord, we pray, send your spirit to give us the faith to believe
what is said. And we pray, Lord, that we would
give you all, all the glory for that alone comforts our hearts
and our souls. We pray for those who are lost,
for those who may be strangers to your grace this very morning.
Lord, that you might be willing today to draw them to yourself. We ask it for your glory, amen. Let's all stand together once
more and we'll sing hymn number 39 from your Spiral Gospel Hymns
hymn book, number 39. Wretched, lost, condemned, and
dying, Guilty I deserve God's wrath. Long I fought against
my Master, Hell-bent I was courting death. But the blood of Christ
had bought me He refused to let me die This poor sinner loved
by Jesus Must be conquered by and by At the time which was predestined
In the covenant of God's grace, God in mercy sent His Spirit,
blessed time of love and grace, to reveal His Son's great merit
as the sinner's substitute. I saw Jesus bleeding, dying,
suffering as my substitute. Precious blood for sin's atonement,
justice could not ask for more. I heard Christ cry, it is finished,
And I could resist no more. Thanks to God for intervening,
Grace that broke my stubborn will, Grace that would not let
me perish, Grace that rescued me from hell. Sovereign grace, I will proclaim
it. Irresistible and free. Grace that chose me and redeemed
me. God, by grace alone saved me. Sinner, now you've heard my story. Now I bid you trust my God. Christ, my all-sufficient Savior,
saves poor sinners by His blood. Please be seated. We're going
to have special music now by Adam and Caleb. Once far from God and dead in
sin, no light my heart could see. But in God's word, the light
I've found. Now Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. What a salvation this, that Christ
liveth in me. As rays of light from yonder
sun, the flowers of earth set free. Still life and light and
love came forth from Christ living in me. Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. What a salvation this, that Christ
liveth in me. as lives the flower within the
seed, as in the cone the tree. So praise the God of truth and
grace. His spirit dwelleth in me. Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. Oh, what a salvation this, that
Christ liveth in me. With longing all my heart is
filled, that life in mine may be. As on the wondrous thought I
dwell, that Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth
in me. Christ liveth in me. Oh, what a salvation this, that
Christ You guys do that again next Sunday?
Wow, that was a blessing. Thank you, man. to be in some seventy four this
morning if you'd like to turn with me there in your bibles
and uh... want to ask the parents with
uh... young children to not pull up
any of the flags that are out in the yard okay uh... surveyors have began their work
and uh... figuring out the the uh... stormwater retention and uh...
that cost a lot of money to get those flags put there so don't
take them up there's only a couple but that's that we get the work
has begun and uh... things are progressing for uh... for us to be able to have a a
new a new building so we look forward to that psalm seventy four I've titled
this message, Argue Your Case Before God. I am here to encourage
you this morning to argue your case before God. Notice the title, I know there's
some question marks in your mind right now because normally we
use that word argue to describe a dispute or a disagreement or
a contention with another person. And that, of course, is not at
all what I mean by that word argue. Another way in which we
use the word argue is in a court of law presenting the reasons
for your case. Now that's what Asaph is doing
in Psalm 74. He is presenting to God the reasons
for his case. He is arguing, if you will, why
God should save him. Now I want you to have an argument
to present your case. to the highest court that there
is. We call that group of nine men
and women that meet our Supreme Court, but the fact is that there
is a much more Supreme Court that makes that group of men
and women look like children having a clubhouse meeting in
their backyard deciding who's going to be the new members of
their club. This court must be appealed to
properly. Now, I've never seen a case brought
before a Supreme Court. I've read a little bit about
it. I'm certain that it's different than presenting a case in a regular
court of law where you have a jury that you're trying to convince.
The Supreme Court sets the rules for how your case is to be presented. And the Supreme Court only allows
certain attorneys to present their case before the Supreme
Court. the Supreme Court is not going
to be swayed by any argument that's not consistent with the
law or with the Constitution. And so it is with the court of
God's justice. He sets the rules. There's only
certain individuals that are allowed into his presence. And the case that we present
must be consistent with a revealed truth of his word, or it'll be
rejected. And there's no appeal, just as
there is no appeal to our Supreme Court, there's no appeal to God's
court. So might the Lord enable us,
notice in the title of this psalm, it says, masculine. That means
to contemplate with understanding. That's what that word means.
Asaph was the song leader for David and so Asaph wrote several
of the Psalms and he is contemplating with understanding reasons why
God ought to have mercy on him and he is presenting his case
to the highest court and if we can learn from his words what
it is that God requires, then we'll have a favorable outcome,
a favorable outcome with the Lord and with the salvation of
our souls. Now all men, all men have a case
that they're going to present before God. You remember Job? job thought he was innocent job
thought he didn't deserve what he was experiencing a job but
insisted that it got allow him to bring his case before before
the court of god and that he would prove that he didn't deserve
the treatment that he was getting until job heard from god God
spoke. Who is this that darkens my counsel
without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man, Job.
I'm going to ask you a few questions. And the Lord began to interrogate
Job. And Job changed his argument, didn't he? He changed his argument. He said, Behold, I am vile. Certainly
I spoke without knowledge. I had heard of thee by the hearing
of my ear, but now mine eyes have seen thee, and I repent
in dust and ashes. He changed his argument. The rich young ruler had an argument. His argument was his law keeping.
What must I do to inherit eternal life? Keep the commandments,
what one Lord told him. He said, these things I've done
since my youth. I've kept your law. That's my case. The Pharisees, they had a case.
They presented their pedigree. They said, we be children of
Abraham to which the Lord said God can raise up children of
Abraham from those rocks which by the way is exactly what the
Lord did when he took out our heart of stone and put in a heart
of flesh didn't he raised us up from the rocks of the earth
but that was their argument they thought well we're we're children
of Abraham we're Israelites we're okay well we'll show we'll present
that to God the free willer He presents his decision to God,
doesn't he? He says, well, I've invited Jesus
into my heart. I've given God my life and I've
made that decision. That's my argument. And all those
arguments, the self-professing theologian, some of us have been
there. present to God the argument of
our Bible knowledge. Well, Lord, I've been studying
the Scriptures all my life, and the Lord said to those Pharisees,
you search the Scriptures because you think in them you have eternal
life. These are they which testify
of me. You don't know me. Depart from me, you workers of
iniquity. I never knew you. I don't want
to hear those words. I don't want to present an argument
to God that's going to end in judgment. So what is the argument? What
is the argument that ends in a favorable judgment? In a judgment
whereby the Lord says, enter in my child to the kingdom that
has been prepared for you. That's the voice. I want to hear. That's the words I know you want
to hear. In verse 1 of Psalm 74, Asaph
is lamenting the spiritual condition of Israel. And by association,
he's lamenting his own spiritual condition. And here we have the
child of God lamenting before God over their own spiritual
condition. God, why hast thou cast us off
forever? Why doth thine anger smoke against
the sheep of thy pasture? O Lord, you seem so far. There seems to be no hope. Your
hand is heavy upon me. Lord, I don't want to be separated
from you in judgment. And then in verse 2, he presents
his first argument, where he calls upon God to remember that
which belongs to God. You see, salvation is the Lord's. The David say in Psalm 51, return
unto me the joy of thy salvation. Lord, the church belongs to you.
Salvation belongs, it's all in your hands. That's my argument.
It's not in my hands. It's not up to me. It's not my
salvation. It's your salvation. You're the
owner and the possessor of all things. And that's how we come
before the God of glory. Not insisting on anything as
if we had a right to it. Lord, I've got a right to nothing.
It's all yours. It's all yours. And that's what
Asaph said, remember thy congregation. or the congregation belongs to
you upon this rock i will build my church in the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it was not my church is not your
church it's god's church remember have mercy upon your church your
bride your congregation which now has purchased of all how
long ago did the Lord purchase his church? Well, the scripture
calls the Lord Jesus Christ the lamb that was slain before the
foundation of the world. And the scripture says that the
work was finished before the foundation of the world. When
did the Lord Jesus Christ purchase his church? A long time ago. When He struck hands with the
Father, became our surety, and agreed to redeem His bride, and
then in fulfilling that promise that He made to the Father in
the covenant of grace, He laid down His life for the sheep,
and He purchased the church with His own precious blood. That's
our argument. That's our argument. Or I have no other argument,
I have no other plea. But that Christ died and that he died
for me. That's my only plea, that's my only argument. Remember thy congregation which
thou hast purchased of old, the rod of thine inheritance. That word, the word rod is the
word tribe. Or this is your family, this
is your tribe. This is your inheritance. The father gave to his son, after
the Lord Jesus Christ paid the dowry price for his bride, the
father gave to his son his inheritance. And Asaph is saying he's contemplating
reasons why the Lord should save him. He's presenting his case
before God's high throne of justice. Here's our plea. One thing I know, that an attorney
that ends up before the Supreme Court has prepared their arguments
well. They don't go up there half cocked. Oh Lord, prepare my heart to
present an argument that will be acceptable in thy sight. Remember
thy congregation, the one that you purchased. your tribe, your
inheritance, which thou hast redeemed." That word redeemed
means to be bought. The church is yours. I'm yours.
You bought me with a price. I'm no longer my own. That's my argument. That's my
plea. This Mount Zion We are sitting
on the top of Mount Zion right this very minute, where God's
people are gathered together, where the gospel of God's grace
is preached, where Christ is lifted up, where God's people
in heart and soul join together in worship. This is Zion, and
this is the place where the Lord promised to make Himself known. to reveal himself in his glory
and in his grace. And there's no place like it
anywhere on earth. And you can't substitute it with
anything else. This is where the Lord promised
to reveal himself. He walks among the candlesticks. Those candlesticks were churches.
Churches. He inhabits the praise of His
people. When our hearts are joined together,
He's delighted to reveal Himself. And that's His argument. Lord,
this is the place where You promised to make Yourself known. And I don't know what to do but
to come to the place where You promised to make Yourself known
and make that my case. My case before God is, Lord,
this is your habitation. This is your house. This is the
place where you promised to speak. And all I can do is come here
and listen. Lord, enable me to hear. Now, verses 3 through 11, Asaph is arguing for the justice of
God against blasphemy. And if all blasphemers, remember
what we said in the first hour, there's only two. There's wickedness
and there's holiness. There's blasphemers and there's
believers. And so Asaph is saying, Lord,
if your judgment doesn't come against the blasphemer, then
what hope do I have as a believer that your grace and mercy will
be for me? So that's his argument. Anyone with any understanding,
any love for Christ, any desire for the glory of God must be
grieved. Must be grieved in their heart
and soul. over the condition of what men
call Christianity. I'm here to say to you without
any apology, there's nothing Christian about modern day Christianity. It is blasphemy. The religious
are not shy to express their offense at the sins of the world. And there's plenty of things
in this world to be offended by. And God's offended by the
sins of this world. But the religious who point their
finger at the offenses of sin in the world fail to realize
how much more offensive their sin of blasphemy is against a
holy God. When they call His name to be
their name, and then they deny the very truth of the gospel.
And that's who Asaph is lamenting against. Lord, if you don't judge,
your name is being drugged through the mud. That's what they're
doing. They're dragging the name of
our God through the mud, and we're offended by it. And God's
much more offended by it. And Asaph is saying, Lord, if
you're not going to judge that, then what hope do I have that
you're going to have mercy upon me? That's my argument. Now,
let's read these verses together. Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual
desolations, even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the
sanctuary. They're doing this in your sanctuary.
They're calling it your sanctuary and they're denying the very
essence of the gospel. Thine enemies roar in the midst
of thy congregation. They set up their incense for
signs. Oh, they've got their statues
and their icons and their crosses and all these things. They're
dragging the name of our God through the mud. And Asaph is
using this as an argument. He's saying, Lord, you're going
to have to exercise your judgment against that before I can have
any hope that you're going to save me. What difference is there otherwise?
If you don't judge that, then what hope do I have? A man was famous according as
he hath lifted up axes upon the thick trees. Now Asaph is talking
about the building of the temple and the destruction of the temple
by the Babylonians, but here's the picture of the man of God
who builds his church And then what happens? The blasphemer
comes in, but now they break down the carved work whereof
at once with axes and hammers. They have cast fire into thy
sanctuary. They have defiled by casting
down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground. They said
in their hearts, let us destroy them together. They have burned
up all the synagogues of God in the land. Lord, where are
your churches? Where is your name being glorified?
Where are you being lifted up? Lord, there are so few and far
between and there are so many that call themselves the Church
of the Lord Jesus Christ who are being described right here.
They are tearing down your name. They set up their own ensigns. We see not our signs. Lord, we
see not the Gospel being lifted up. We see not the truth of Christ
being exalted. There's no more any prophets.
Lord, where are your prophets? Where are the men who speak the
truth? Listen to them. They're liars, and they're lying
on God, and they're blaspheming against God, and they're taking
the name of God in vain. Lord said, don't take my name
in vain. And we, you know, we think, well,
that means don't use God's name in cursing. Oh my goodness. Don't do that. But again, those who are religious and pretend
to be worshiping Our God, and use His name, are guilty of more
manatee than the irreligious who would take it up as a curse
word. And that's what Asaph said, Lord,
you've got to exercise your judgment against the false church. If
you don't judge the false church, what hope is that the true church
is gonna be saved, or that I'm part of the true church? Neither is there any among us
that knoweth how long." Lord, how long is this going to... I know every child of God in
every generation has anticipated, and rightly so, the coming of
Christ in their generation. The Lord has revealed the truth
of His coming in such a way as to give every generation hope
that it's going to happen in their life. But when has any
generation had more hope than we have? Lord, how long? How long are you going to tarry?
How long are you going to let this wickedness prevail in the
world before you come? Oh God, how long shall the adversary
reproach? Shall the enemies blaspheme thy
name forever? Dishonor? That's what the word
blaspheme means. They're dishonoring the name
of God. They're stripping God of His glory and taking credit
for their own salvation. Why withdrawest thou thy hand,
even thy right hand? Pluck it out of thy bosom. Come
Lord Jesus, even now come. Is that not how this book concludes?
Is that not what John said? That's what Asaph is saying.
Lord come now and bring your judgment against all those who
would dishonor your name and blaspheme you and call your church
home. That's my argument. For God is my King of old, working
salvation in the midst of the earth. Now brethren, there's something
so sweet in the next two verses, next three verses, 13, 14, and
15 that I want you to pay very special attention to. Sometimes
we might say, I can understand how God would save you, but I
don't understand how he would save me. Don't make that statement
anymore. There's some self-righteousness
in that statement. There is. There's some self-righteousness
in that statement. The reason behind that statement,
if I wasn't so bad, you know, maybe God would have mercy on
me. When the truth of it is that the worse you are in your
eyes, the more argument you have to
be saved. Let me show you that. Asaph is
arguing the history of God's grace toward his people as the
hope of his current acts of grace for him. Asaph is saying, Lord,
you brought the children of Israel out of the bondage of the Egyptian
taskmasters, and if anybody's been in bondage to sin any more
than they, it's me. So if you did that for them,
then my argument is that I'm worse than they are. You divided the Red Sea. They
had the Egyptians behind them and the sea in front of them.
They were between a rock and a hard place. God, nobody's been
between a rock and a hard place any more than me. If you had
mercy upon them, then you should have mercy upon me because I'm
in a worse place than they were. Lord, you fed them from manna
from heaven in the wilderness when they would have starved.
No one's in need of more food than I am. Lord, if you did that
for them, my argument is that you should do it for me because
I'm worse than they are. No one had a place. They didn't
have a place to go for water. You had to strike the rock and
make the water come forth out of the rock in order for them
to survive in that wilderness. Lord, I live in a dry and thirsty
land. If you did that for them, you should do it for me because
I'm worse than they are. That's the argument. Look at verse 13. thou didst
divide the sea by thy strength. Thou breakest the heads of the
dragon in the waters. Thou breakest the heads of the
Leviathan in pieces and gave them to be meat to the people
inhabiting the wilderness." Now Leviathan here is not the same
Leviathan spoken of in the book of Job. This is a symbolic language
being used for the Egyptians. They were the Leviathan. And
and the Lord said, and Asaph said, Lord, you drowned the enemy
in the sea. You delivered me from them. If
you did that for them, why should you not do it for me? This is
my argument. Though thou didst cleave the
fountain and the flood, thou dryest up the mighty waters. Lord, you dried up the river
of Jericho, brought them into the promised land, that motley
crew of dissatisfied complainers. Lord, I'm worse than that. How
I complain, how dissatisfied I am. If you did that for them,
then my argument is that you could do it for me. You see, to say that I can see
how God would have mercy upon you but not have mercy upon me, There's a little bit of self-righteousness
in that, because the truth is that God has mercy upon the worst.
The worst. Lord, you gave sight to the blind. No one's more blind than I am. Lord, I wouldn't see a thing
if you didn't take the scales from off my eyes and enable me
to see. Lord, you unstop the ears of the deaf. Lord, no one's
more deaf than I am. If you did that for them, why
wouldn't you do it for me? That's my argument. You enabled the lame to walk.
I crippled sitting by the gate called beautiful, not able to
go in and worship God. Lord, you spoke to him and you
gave him strength to stand. No one's more crippled than I
am. You see, the gospel is for sinners. The gospel is for the
poor and the needy. And the more needy you are, and
the poorer you are, and the more sinful you are, and the more
blind you are, and the more crippled you are, and the more hungry
you are, the more argument you have to give to God for the hope
of your salvation. That's why men make arguments
that are rejected by the Supreme Court because they make the wrong
argument. They say, Lord, you should save
me because I've done this or I've done that or I'm not so
bad as so-and-so. No! Put yourself on the very bottom
and you will be the most qualified candidate for salvation that
there is. That's who the Lord saves. That's
who the Lord saves. That's what Asaph said. Lord, you raised the dead. Oh, the spiritual deadness of
my soul. Lord, if you did that for them, You can do it for me. If these things are the qualifications
for salvation, then no one is more qualified than I am. This is my argument. Your depravity is the very reason
for you to have hope You cannot shame or offend a
child of God when it comes to pointing out their sin. It's
the cause of their hope. Their sinfulness is the cause
of their hope. They can find no reason in themselves
to be saved. And pointing out the sinfulness
of God's children forces them to cast all their care upon the
Lord Jesus Christ, the sinless Savior who cares for them. That's your argument. Your argument
before God is your inability, your sinfulness, your total lack
of any righteousness or any reason whatsoever why God should have
mercy upon you. That's a good argument. That's
a good argument. Verses 16 and 17, Asaph argues the power and the providence
of God in creation. When he says, the day is thine,
the night also is thine, thou has prepared the light and the
sun, thou has set all the borders of the earth, thou has made summer
and winter, Now I want you to think about
this for a minute. We look in our age of enlightenment,
we look at the superstitions of ancient pagan cultures and
we conclude that we are more advanced because of our scientific
knowledge. When the truth is that no generation
has been more pagan than the generation that you and I live
in. At least those pagans acknowledged the fact that there was a God. And we have, we're more pagan. than the people that were dancing
around rocks and stumps and beating drums and whatever else they
were doing, climbing up ziggurats and making sacrifices of blood
were more pagan than that. They knew there was a God. They
looked at what could be observed in creation and they knew there
was a creator. They didn't know how to deal
with him. What have we done? We've completely denied the existence
of a creator God. We call him Mother Nature. Nature
doesn't have a mother. Nature's only got a father. We call it evolution. We call
it the survival of the fittest. And we become more pagan. You
see, man is not evolving, he's devolving. When it comes to his
spiritual condition, he's devolving. And Asaph is saying, Lord, you're
the creator. The sun rises in the east every
morning like the bridegroom coming out of his chambers. Lord, the
stars and the moon are in your hand. You hold them together. The heavens declare the glory
of God. The firmament showeth forth his handiwork. And did
not the Lord say, consider the birds of the air? They spin not,
neither do they fret. They don't build barns. Your
Heavenly Father cares for them. He takes care. Look at creation.
Look at what God... This is the argument. This is
the argument. Look at what God does to care
for His creation. And what did the Lord Jesus Christ
say in John chapter 6? Doth not your Heavenly Father
care more for you? That's your argument. The truth is, a lot of what's
being called science is not science. Science, so-called, the scripture
says. You know, the progression of science is you start with
a hypothesis and then you go to a theory and then you have
a scientific law. And they're taking theories and
assuming that they're laws. And they've not been made a law,
but here's the truth. Here's the truth. The laws that we're bound by
in nature and in physics, the true laws. Take the law of gravity
for instance. You're not going to break the
law of gravity. The law of gravity is going to break you. But they're God's laws. That's what Asaph is saying.
Lord, you set the Did not God break the law of gravity when
He ascended back into glory? Did He not break the law of gravity
when He caused the axe head to rise from the river? Did He not
break the law of gravity when He caused the sun to stand still?
They're God's laws. And to Him, the Lord Jesus Christ broke the
law of gravity when He walked on water. What am I saying? Here's our argument. Here's our
argument. God, you can do the impossible. What did the Lord say to Sarah? Is anything too hard for God? You can do the impossible. Remember
when the Lord was talking to the disciples and told them it's
harder for rich men to enter the kingdom of heaven than it
is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. And the
disciples said, oh Lord, they can be saved. And what did the
Lord say? With man it is impossible, but
with God all things are possible. So when you look at creation
and you look at the laws of nature, you remember that those are God's
laws. And if He can break those laws
and He can hold creation in order, And He can do the impossible
in saving you. That's your argument. That's
your argument. Verse 18. argument for God's honor and
God's glory. Remember this, that the enemy
hath reproached, O Lord, and that the foolish people have
blasphemed thy name. Oh, deliver not the soul of thy
turtle dove. unto the multitude of the wicked.
Forget not the congregation of thy poor forever." Lord, there's
my argument. I'm your turtle dove. I'm poor. Lord, don't turn me over to them.
Don't lead me to myself. Keep your hand on me. Restrain
me. Teach me. Save me. That's my argument. Have respect unto the covenant.
There's my argument. Wouldn't David say, oh Lord,
although my house be not so with God? The tabernacle of this flesh,
his home, I mean, David's house was a mess. A mess. Although my house be not so with
God, yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant and that
covenant is ordered in all things and sure. The Lord Jesus Christ
ratified that covenant with his life on Calvary's cross. He made
all things ordered and sure. He fulfilled the law. And David
said, this is all my salvation. This is all my desire, though
we make it not to grow. I can't look at my life and see
any growth in grace. I don't see that I'm getting
any better, but God's made a covenant and there's my hope. There's
my hope. There's my argument. I've got
no other argument. Have respect unto the covenant,
for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of
cruelty. Oh, let not the oppressed return
ashamed. Let the poor and the needy praise
thy name. There's my argument, Lord. I'm
poor. I don't have anything. Blessed
are the poor in spirit, for they shall inherit the kingdom of
God. Lord, I'm needy. I'm needy. You know, man-made
religion is all based on trying to get people to be more committed.
You will be committed to that which you need. If you need God's mercy, you'll
be committed to be where God is. I'm not saying commitment is
not important. Commitment is important. Some
people are very committed and some aren't. And the ones that
are committed have a need. And the ones that don't, don't
have a need. Arise, O God, plead thine own
cause. Lord, this is your cause. This
is your glory. This is your church. There's
my argument. Remember how the foolish man
reports thee daily. Forget not the voice of thine
enemies. The tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth
continually. Oh Lord, my need just gets greater
and greater and greater every day. When I grow in grace and
the knowledge of Christ, I see more and more of my need to make
an argument that will be acceptable in thy sight. There is a court, a court of
justice. Makes our Supreme Court, like
I said, look like a bunch of children out in the backyard. From that court, eternal justice is determined. How is your argument framed? to have a favorable judgment
from that court. Asaph had a good argument. And
God be pleased to enable us to do the same. Let's pray. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
thank you for your word. Teach us by your spirit. We ask
it in Christ's name. Amen. The time. Number 48. Let's stand together
for 88. So, ? 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 His boundless love and mercy,
He the ransom freely gave. 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 I will praise my dear Redeemer
His triumphant power I'll tell How the victory he giveth over
sin and death and hell. Of my Redeemer, of my Redeemer,
he purchased me. On the cross He sealed my pardon,
On the cross 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. Perhaps you forgot we were going
to have lunch today. Please stay. It's always a very
sweet time of fellowship. And we'll give the ladies a chance
to set things up outside and enjoy some time together this
afternoon. Erin, Jamie, Greenleaf are with us from Lexington today.