Good evening. Let's open tonight's
service with hymn number 32 from the Spiral Gospel Hymns hymnbook,
In Christ We Are Free. Number 32. All children of wrath, in bondage
and sin, we helplessly lay, condemned and unclean. God's law in its
infinite justice and wrath demanded we suffer an eternal death. But long before time had ever
begun, One stood in our place, God's glorious Son. He offered himself to go live
among men, And give his own life to atone for our sin. The great substitute, behold
he has come. The price has been paid, the
work is all done. Christ took on himself the great
load of our sin. He poured out His blood, and
He put away sin. God's justice and law are now
satisfied, and all who believe have been justified. Through faith in the blood of
the Lamb, we are free from sin's condemnation, eternally free. Please be seated. Eternally free, where the Spirit
of God is, there is liberty. Pray the Lord will give us liberty
tonight as we seek to worship Him. Will you open your Bibles
with me to Psalm 35, please, for our call to worship. Psalm
35. Plead my cause, O Lord. Oh, isn't that our prayer? We ask the Lord Jesus Christ
to plead our cause before the Father, even as He pled with
the Father to plead his cause. Plead my cause, O Lord, with
them that strive with me. That old man still strives, doesn't
he? Sin's always there. Fight against them that fight
against me. Take hold of shield and buckler
and stand up for mine help. shield of faith, the belt of
truth. That's our defense, isn't it?
That's what the Lord's given us to quench the fiery darts
of the devil. Draw out also the spear and stop
the way against them that persecute me. Say unto my soul, I am thy
salvation. That's my hope tonight, is that
the Spirit of God will say to our souls, Only he can say it. You can't say it to me and I
can't say it to you. But when he speaks to our hearts,
I am thy salvation. Let them be confounded and put
to shame that seek after my soul. Let them be turned back and brought
to confusion that devise my hurt. And they were, they were. They were all drawn back. And
the Lord said. I am to those Roman soldiers. They fell back, didn't they?
All that sought to. To destroy him. Let them be as
chaff before the wind and let the angel of the Lord chase them.
Let their way be dark and slippery. And let the angel of the Lord
persecute them. For without cause have they hid
from me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged
for my soul. They hated me without a cause. He had done nothing to hurt them,
but he was an offense to them. If we allow this man to live,
he will take away both our place and our nation, our position
and our power. is at risk. Let destruction come
upon him at unawares and let his net that he had hid catch
himself into the very destruction, let him fall. And my soul shall
be joyful in the Lord. It shall rejoice in his salvation. Oh, the Lord will give us the
spirit of joy. All my bones shall say, Lord,
who is like unto thee? Which delivers the poor from
him that is too strong for him, yea, the poor and the needy from
him that spoileth him. Satan, sin, this world, everything's
too strong for us, isn't it? We're weak, poor, needy. False witnesses did rise up against,
rise up They laid to my charge things that I knew not. They
rewarded me evil for good to the spoiling of my soul. But
as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I
humbled my soul with fasting and my prayer returned into my
own bosom. I behaved myself as though he
had been my friend or brother. I bowed down heavily as one that
mourneth for his mother. But in mine adversity, they rejoiced
and gathered themselves together. Yea, the abjects gathered themselves
together against me and I knew it not. They did tear me and
cease not. With hypocritical mockers in
feast, they gnashed upon me with their teeth. Lord, how long? Without look on rescue my soul
from their destruction. My darling. From the Lions. Let's pray. Our merciful Heavenly Father. We come into thy presence. pleading the name of thy dear
son, his righteousness for all our acceptance before thee. Lord,
we confess to you that we have no claim on your mercy or on
your grace outside of Christ, but oh, to know that we have
an advocate, one who does plead our cause, one who presents himself
on our behalf, a surety, a savior, a sin bearer, Lord, we pray that
you would fulfill for us what David prayed in this psalm. Speak, Lord, to our souls that
thou art our salvation and give us peace and hope and comfort
in the Lord Jesus Christ. For it's in his name we ask it,
amen. Let's stand together again. We'll
sing hymn number 340 from the Hardback Temple. 340, nearer,
still nearer. Let's all stand. Nearer, still nearer, close to
thy heart. Draw me, my Savior, so precious
thou art. Fold me, O fold me, close to
thy breast. Shelter me safe in that haven
of rest. Shelter me safe in that haven
of rest. Nearer, still nearer, the thing
I bring. not as an offering to Jesus my
King. Only my sinful, now contrite
heart grant me the cleansing thy blood doth impart. Grant me the cleansing Thy blood
doth impart. Nearer, still nearer, Lord, to
be Thine. Sin with its follies I gladly
resign. ? All of its pleasures ? Pump
and its cry ? Give me but Jesus ? My Lord crucified ? Give me
but Jesus crucified. Nearer, still nearer, while life
shall last, till safe in glory my anchor is cast. Through endless ages ever to
be Nearer, my Savior, still nearer to Thee Nearer, my Savior, still
nearer to Thee Will you open your Bibles with
me to Proverbs chapter 25? Some people would say that we're
being presumptuous when we speak of knowing God. And yet the Lord
Jesus Christ made it clear in his high priestly prayer john
seventeen we don't know god we don't have a lot this is life
eternal they might know the the only true god in jesus christ
and i sent the believers passion in life is to know god and we
do know him i know that your heart sometimes uh... uh... condemns you when you wonder
whether or not, do I know God or do I just know things about
God? But the spirit of God will confirm to us that we do know
him, that we do know him. The Lord said in John chapter
17 verse 2, as thou hast given power over all flesh, that he
should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee. How little we do know about him,
but what we know, we know by divine revelation. And that's
what Proverbs chapter 25 is about. I've titled this message, How
Can I Know God? How can I know Him? How can I
know Him? Now Paul said in 1 Corinthians
chapter 13 that we know in part and we prophesy in part and when
that which is perfect is come then that which is in part will
be done away. We'll see Him as He is. and will know him in the fullness
of his glory. So we just, we see glimpses of
him, don't we? When Moses was on Mount Sinai
and he prayed and he said, Lord, my heart's desire is to know
thy glory, to see thy glory. And the Lord revealed his glory
to him by revealing Christ to him. All that we're ever going
to know about the glory of God, we're going to discover it in
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And all that we're gonna
ever know about the Lord Jesus Christ, we're gonna discover
it in God's word. This is the book, isn't it? That reveals his glory. In the
volume of the book it is written of me. So if we're gonna know
God, we're gonna have to know Christ. And if we're gonna know
Christ, God's gonna have to open the eyes of our understanding
and speak to us by his word. And one thing that's clear throughout
all the scriptures, particularly here in our text, in Proverbs
chapter 25, is that the gospel is a mystery. It's hid from the
natural man. The natural man cannot see it.
He cannot believe it. It must be revealed. Look at verse 2. It is the glory
of God to conceal a thing. Now verse 1 tells us that these
proverbs were written by Solomon, but they were drawn out by the
sons of Hezekiah. Now Hezekiah was a good king,
but one of the mistakes that Hezekiah made towards the end
of his reign was that when the visitors from Babylon came, Hezekiah
took them into the treasury and showed them all the riches of
the treasury of Israel. And Isaiah, knowing that these
spies had come from Babylon, came to Hezekiah the king and
he said, what did you show them? And Hezekiah said, I showed them
everything. I showed them everything. And Isaiah said, and they're
coming back and they're gonna take everything. And that's exactly
what happened. It's the glory of God. to conceal a thing. Hezekiah
should have kept those things secret, shouldn't he? It would
have been to his glory and to the glory of Israel had he kept
those things secret. But in his pride and in his insecurity
he wanted to flaunt his riches, didn't he? He wanted other men
to see what he had and it cost him everything in the end. It's
the glory of God to conceal a thing. It's to God's glory that the
gospel be hid from the natural man. It's a mystery to the natural
man. Notice in verse 1, these are
the proverbs of Solomon. And you remember proverbs and
parable is the same thing. And when the disciples asked
the Lord, why do you speak to them in parables? He said, because
it's not for them to know the mystery of the kingdom but for
you it is to know the mystery of the kingdom and so these parables
have to be interpreted they have to be understood and only the
Spirit of God can open the eyes of our understanding and cause
us to know what these proverbs really mean and so in verse 2
when he says it is the glory of God to conceal a thing How
big would a God be that you can just know everything there is
to know about him? No. Oh, so much is concealed, isn't
it? So much is hidden, and it's of
God's prerogative and of God's will and of God's purpose to
reveal what he wills, when he wills, to whomsoever he wills. It is the glory of God to conceal
a thing. The mystery of the gospel Turn
to me to Romans chapter 16. Romans chapter 16. It's the glory of God to conceal
a thing. Hezekiah sacrificed his glory
when he revealed all the riches of his treasury to the spies
of Babylon. The Lord's not so foolish. Look at verse 25 in Romans chapter
16. Now to him that is of power to
establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus
Christ according to the revelation of the mystery. The mystery of
the gospel is revealed through the preaching of the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. That's the means. We're not going to figure it
out any other way. which was kept secret since the world began.
God kept it secret. Why do you suppose God uses the
foolishness of preaching to save them which believe? Remember
when we were in religion, we'd get together and have Bible studies,
and everybody had something to say, everybody had a contribution
to make, and everybody left feeling proud that they had that they
had made some contribution to the discussion. Preaching doesn't
afford you that opportunity, does it? The scripture says faith
comes by hearing, and hearing comes by the word of God, and
hearing is passive. Hearing is passive. And so everybody's
humbled by preaching. The man in the pew is humbled
by it because he's got no contribution to make. All he can do is sit
there and passively hear and hope that God speaks. And oh,
no one's more humbled than the man in the pulpit. If God sent
him to preach, he's desperately dependent on the Lord to enable
him. The Lord's not gonna let men
take pride in their salvation. What a beautiful means by which
he uses to save them which believe. The humbling means of preaching. It's foolishness to the Greeks. Preaching is foolishness to them.
They're looking for something else, aren't they? But now is made manifest, verse
26, And by the scriptures of the prophets according to the
commandment of the everlasting God made known to all nations
for the obedience of faith. By the scriptures. This is the
means, isn't it? We just keep going back to what
sayeth the scriptures. What does God say? This is a
revelation of Christ. And the world's not interested
in that. They'll go everywhere else. People say they want to
know God, but they won't listen to preaching, won't go to God's
Word, always looking for some other source to feed their pride. But if we're going to know God,
He's going to humble us in knowing Him. And so Proverbs chapter
25 says, it is the glory of God to conceal a thing. If God's
concealing it, and that he has the sovereign right to reveal
it, then it's to his glory that we become mercy beggars coming
before his throne of grace asking him, oh, Lord, speak, speak. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
2. 1 Corinthians 2. This is so foundational to the
Lord speaking to us, for us knowing God. for the hidden things to
be made manifest. Why do you speak to them in parables?
Because it's not for them to know the mystery of the kingdom
of heaven. It's been given unto you to know
the mystery. First Corinthians chapter 2, look at verse 1. And
I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with the excellency
of speech or wisdom declared unto you the testimony of God. I wasn't here to massage your
ego and use difficult words. And how much preaching is that
way now, isn't it? Just trying to impress man with
words of wisdom. And I determined, Paul said,
not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Now is Paul using hyperbole here? Is he speaking it with exaggerated
terms? He was a very well-educated man.
Obviously, he knew a lot of things, a lot of stuff about a lot of
things. But he said, no, when I came
to you, I profess to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. Because if we're going to know
God, we're going to have to know Christ. And if we're going to know Christ,
He's going to have to be lifted up. He's going to have to be
preached. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in
much trembling." Oh, here's the humbling ministry of preaching
for the preacher. Every man that's ever stood to
preach can understand what Paul was saying. I came to you with
much fear and weakness and trembling, fearing that I would misrepresent
God, fearing that I would not be able to exalt Him. And my
speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of men's
wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. The
Spirit of God is going to bless the Word of God to the hearts
of God's people. Power is the power of God unto
salvation. That your faith should not stand
in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Some of us know what's going
on out there in religion in terms of standing in the wisdom of
man and being impressed with learning. Knowledge puffeth up. Don't you love it when they brought
the disciples before the Sanhedrin and the Lord and they said that
these were ignorant and unlearned men, yet they took notice of
them that they had been with Jesus. You know, when the gospel began
to suffer in the church is when we got the bright idea that we
needed to educate our preachers. The biblical means of preparing
to preach is to be sent of God and to be mentored by a man who's
been preaching. And we, you know, all the big
universities, Princeton, Oxford, Cambridge, Yale, Harvard, they
were all started out as seminaries, didn't they? There's not a single school of
higher education, whether it be seminary or university, that's
teaching anybody the gospel. Not a single one. Now, I extend
that out as a challenge. Somebody knows of one, let me
know. I don't know of one. The one I went to sure didn't. No, this gospel's not going to
be learned by education. Now, are we speaking against
the value of education? No. Education's got its place. But you're not going to learn
the gospel by education. It's the glory of God to conceal
a thing. He's going to have to make it
known, isn't he? He's going to have to open the eyes of our
understanding. Where were we in chapter 2? And we speak, but
we speak, verse 7, the wisdom of God in a mystery. It's hid. When Scripture speaks of the
gospels being a mystery, it doesn't mean that it's mysterious. It
doesn't mean that it's weird or strange. It means that it's
hid. It means that it's the glory of God to conceal a thing. God's glory is, again, Hezekiah
should have concealed the things that he had and he didn't. It's
the glory of God to conceal a thing. Even the hidden wisdom, which
God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of
the princes of this world knew, for had they known it, they would
not have crucified the Lord of glory. And they wouldn't be crucifying
him again, afresh new today, and trampling under feet the
blood of Christ. Not if they knew. But as it is written, here it
is again, that passage in Isaiah chapter 6 is the most often quoted
Old Testament passage. I know you've heard me say that
many times, but here it is again, eyes not seen, nor ears heard.
I'm sorry. This is not Isaiah chapter 6.
I has not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him. But God hath revealed them to
us. He's revealed them to us by His Spirit. For the Spirit
searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what
man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of a man which
is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the
Spirit of God. The things of God knoweth no
man but the Spirit of God. Oh, what a blessed thing it is
to have the Spirit of God. If you be an evil, know how to
give good gifts unto your children. How much more will you have me,
Father? Give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. Lord, if
you don't give me your Spirit, If you don't stop my ears, if
you don't give me faith, if you don't cause me to turn, I won't
be turned. Now, verse 12, we have received
not the spirit of the world, but the spirit, which is of God,
that we might know the things that are freely given us of God. Without controversy, Paul said
to Timothy, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. Great is the mystery of God.
God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen
of angels preached to the Gentiles, believed on in the world and
received up into glory. You see, the mystery of godliness
is all about the Lord Jesus Christ, who he is and what he did. And
it's the glory of God to conceal a thing. Go back with me to our text in
Proverbs. Look at verse 3 of Proverbs 25,
the heaven for height and the earth for depth and the heart
of a king is unsearchable. And Paul said in Romans chapter
11, oh, the depth of the riches of both the wisdom and knowledge
of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways are
past finding out. How are we going to know God? How are we going to know him?
He's going to have to make himself known. He's going to have to
reveal himself. He reveals himself, not to the
proud. He resists the proud. Oh, but how pleased he is to
make himself known to the humble listening. Now look at the second part of
verse 2, but the honor of kings is to search out a matter. Now the Lord has said that He
has made us unto our God to be kings and priests. In other words,
we have access into the presence of God because we're members
of the royal family. It is the glory of God to conceal
a thing, but it is the honor, it is the honor of kings to search
a thing out. Now searching out with diligence
without the Spirit of God will only, will only give a person
knowledge. How much preaching we used to
do, Robert, what we just We just recounted historical events and
impressed men with what we knew about what happened during the
Reformation and what happened here and there and dispersed
doctrine and didn't preach Christ. Did not preach Christ. And that's
what happens when a man spends all of his time searching out
knowledge without the Spirit of God. Now that having been said, the
Spirit of God is not going to bless with knowledge without
searching out. How am I going to know God? He's going to have to set my
heart to search Him. Turn with me to Jeremiah chapter
29. Jeremiah chapter 29. I hear people talk about wanting
to know God and yet they have no interest in the preaching
of the gospel. They have no interest in searching out His word. You see, it's the glory of God
to conceal a thing and it's the honor of kings to search a thing
out. If we search it out in the flesh,
we're going to come up with this fleshly stuff. But if the Spirit
of God ever begins to reveal the Lord Jesus Christ to us,
He'll cause us to want to know more, won't He? That's what Paul
said, I've not yet apprehended that which has apprehended me.
This one thing I do, I press towards the prize of the knowledge,
the high calling in Christ Jesus. That I might know Him. I just
want to know Him. I want to know Him better. And
we look through a glass dimly now. Look at Jeremiah chapter
29. at verse 11, for I know the thoughts that I think towards
you saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil to give
you an expected end. I've got good thoughts for you,
to give you peace and to bring you to your expected end. Then, look at verse 12, then
shall you call upon me. And you shall go and pray unto
me and I will hearken unto you. And you shall seek me and find
me when you shall search for me with all your heart. The spirit of God moves on. How
am I gonna know God? That's the question we're trying
to answer. God's gonna have to reveal himself and then he's
gonna have to put in my heart a desire to search him out. Did not the Lord say, knock and
it'll be open? Ask and it'll be given unto you.
Seek and you shall find. For everyone that asketh. You know, the ETH in the scriptures
is a participle. And it's like putting I-N-G,
it's like the English participles. It's like putting I-N-G on the
end of a word. So it's not a one-time ask. It's
not a one-time knock. It's not a one-time seek. It's
asking and knocking and seeking and not stopping to search a
thing out. And if we do, it's because God's
put it in our hearts to search a thing out. That's why you're
here tonight. That's why you're here. That's what we're doing
right now. We're searching the thing out, that thing which is
concealed by God, that holy thing that was in the womb of Mary.
the Lord Jesus Christ himself. We've come here to search him
out. And that's especially important
for the preacher, isn't it? Paul said to Timothy, study. to show thyself approved, a workman
that needeth not be ashamed, rightly divide in the word of
truth." What is it to rightly divide the word of truth? It's
to find the gospel in every passage of scripture. That's what it
is. Now, there are people who call
themselves dispensationalists, who think, well, this scripture
speaks of that era of time, and this scripture speaks of this
era of time, and they believe themselves to be rightly dividing
the truth because uh... what's the guy's name wrote all
the commentaries in the bottom of the school field you know
they believe themselves to be right now use that first rightly
dividing the word of god no they're not You rightly divide the Word
of God when you see Christ in every passage. You just want
to see that which is concealed, don't you? You want to search
Him out. You want to know, what does this
tell me about the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, here's what it
says about Him. The honor of God is to conceal a thing. The glory of God is to conceal
a thing. And the honor of kings is to search it out. Search it
out. Don't stop knocking Don't stop
asking. Don't stop searching. Or put it in my heart. To to
search you out, you said that if I if I would seek for you
with all of my heart, I would find you. Lord, make my heart. Desirous for thee. That's the
only way I'm going to know you. Only way I'm going to know you.
Look at verse. Verse four, take away the dross
from the silver. Take away the dross from the
silver and there shall come forth vessels for the finer. Lord take the dross out of my
life, whatever it takes. And he knows exactly how much
heat to put to the silver to draw out the dross, doesn't he?
And that's what Peter was talking about when he said, your faith,
which is much more precious than gold, will be tried with fire. God's going to try everything
that he does, isn't he? He's going to prove it. And here's
our prayer. Lord, take away the dross from
the silver that there might be a vessel fit for thy honor and
for thy glory. I'll tell you another thing about
this, taking away the dross from the silver. Lord, take away the
error from truth. The Lord said, it's necessary
that heresies be among you, that they which are made manifest,
they which are approved might be made manifest. Now that word,
well, it's This removing the dross from
the silver has to do with life and it has to do with doctrine.
It has to do with practice and it has to do with the gospel.
Lord, remove the dross from the silver. Look at verse 5. Take away the wicked from before
the king. Take away the wicked from before
the king and his throne shall be established in righteousness.
Now what was taken away when the Lord Jesus Christ bowed his
mighty head on Calvary's cross and said, it is finished. Father into thy hands, I commend
my spirit. What was taken away? The answer
to that question is very clear in Hebrews chapter 10. Will you
turn with me there? First John chapter three, verse
five says, you know that he was manifest to take away our sins
and in him is no sin. You know that he was manifest
to take away our sins for in him is no sin. And in Hebrews
chapter 10, you have your Bibles open there? Hebrews chapter 10, look at verse
4. For it is not possible that the
blood of bulls and goats should take away sins, take away the
evil from the presence of the king and his throne shall be
established in righteousness. All evil's got to be taken away.
All my sin has to be covered. by the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It has to be buried in the depths of the sea. It has
to be separated from me and from God as far as the east is from
the west. His eyes are too pure to look
upon iniquity. We cannot stand in the presence
of God, not with one mark of sin on us. That's why we need
a lamb that's without spot and without blemish in whom we can
stand and have acceptance before God Verse 5, wherefore, when
he cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice and offerings
thou wouldest not, but a body thou hast prepared me. His body was the sacrifice. He
would bear in his body the sins of his people. In burnt offerings and sacrifice
for sin, thou hath no pleasure. Then said I, lo, I come, in the
volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God. What was the will of God? It
wasn't just to keep the law. That was the will of God. He's the end of the law for righteousness,
but part of the law was to require justice. And that's what the
Lord came to do, to do God's will, not only in His obedience,
but in His obedience even unto death. Yes, even the death of
the cross. Robert, you quoted that passage
Sunday. Above when he said, verse eight, sacrifice and offerings
and burn offerings and offerings for sin thou wouldest not, neither
hath thou pleasure therein, which are offered by the law. Then
said he, lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He take it the way
of the first that he might establish the second by the which will
we are sanctified, made holy through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. once for all. And every priest
standeth daily, ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifice, which can never take away sins. All those blood sacrifices
of the Old Testament could never take away sins. But this man,
this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever,
sat down at the right hand of God from henceforth expecting
till his enemies be made his footstool. Sit thou here at my
right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. We were
at enmity with God because of our sin. And he, what, look at
verse 14. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. So back to our text, look at
verse five. Take away the wicked from before
the king. That's exactly what the Lord
Jesus Christ did. He took away the wicked before
God. He took away all our sin. He
covered them by his blood. And God's throne was established
in righteousness. And we can come into the very
presence of God, the throne of grace, with boldness to seek
help in our time of need. Look at verse six, put not forth
thyself in the presence of the King and stand not in the place
of great men. When you come in the presence
of God, it's like we said Sunday, three things we teach our children
because the three things that God teaches us. He teaches us
to respect authority, doesn't he? Oh, we worship ultimate divine
authority, don't we? He teaches us to accept full
responsibility for our sin. And he teaches us to show interest
and love. Your love for the brethren is
what confirms that you're a child of God, that you do know God,
you know God. The evidence of that is that
you love the brethren. And now the Lord's telling us
here. I've thought a good bit about this. We often speak of
the blame game that Adam started us on the road toward, didn't
we? And we're all gotten pretty good at it. We find ways to blame
other people for our own failures, don't we? And we get in a conflict
with our spouse or with some other person and it's, you know,
you're the fault and you change and this is, you know. And that's
what Adam did. Adam blamed God. And Job blamed
God. But you know what I think? When Job said in confession,
behold, I see something I've never seen before. I am vile. When Adam saw the Lord Jesus
Christ typified in that slain lamb, Adam nor Job nor any other
child of God has ever been able to come into the presence of
God. and blame him for anything. We blame one another and I know
that our murmurings, our complaining in a sense is accusing God of
wrongdoing, but I'm talking about when you come before the throne
of grace. What's your experience? You can't come into the presence
of God like that Pharisee, can you? Father God I thank Thee
that I'm not as other men. He was praying to himself. Every time you come into the
presence of God, every time a child of God comes into the presence
of God, he bows in submission and confesses, Lord, whatever
you do is right. He accepts full responsibility
for all of his sin. Isn't that, is that your experience? Adam blamed God one time. I don't
believe he ever did that again. I can't get on my knees before
God and accuse God of wrongdoing. Job did, until he heard the gospel. That's what the Lord's saying
here. When you're made a sinner, then you come into the very presence
of God as a mercy beggar. You can't shift the blame to
anybody else and you can't accuse God of wrongdoing. Can you? That's what verse 6 means. Look
at verse 6 again. Put not forth thyself in the
presence of the King and stand not in the place of great men. In other words, don't stand in
the presence of God presumptuously or judgingly. You can't do it,
can you? You can't do it. Not once you've
seen Christ. Not once you've seen what he's
done for you. And we'll close with verse seven.
Look at verse seven. For better it is that it be said
of thee, come up hither. than that thou shouldst be put
lower in the presence of the prince when thine eyes have seen. Lord bid me to come unto thee. Turn me, the prophet said, and
I shall be turned. The Lord Jesus Christ said, no
man can come to the father. Now can come to me except the
father which sent me, draw him, draw him. Oh, we don't rush in
like fools, do we? We come as mercy beggars, seeking
that which God has concealed, searching out those things which
are precious to our soul to know him. to know him, the power of
his resurrection, and the fellowship of his suffering. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we ask that you would strive
with us, Lord. Be merciful to us, Lord. We confess
to you that we are so prone to wonder and forget and leave the
God we love. or don't leave us to ourselves. Reveal to us that which has been
concealed, the mystery of thy dear son. We ask it in his name. Amen. Brother Tom. Number 294 in a
hard back 10. Now let's stand together. ? Savior, like a shepherd lead
us ? ? Much we need thy tender care ? In thy pleasant pastures
feed us, for our use thy folds prepare. Blessed Jesus, blessed
Jesus, thou hast bought us, thine we are. Blessed Jesus, blessed
Jesus, Thou hast bought us Thine we are. We are Thine, do Thou
befriend us, Be the guardian of our way. Keep thy flock from
sin, defend us, seek us when we go astray. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
hear, O hear us when we pray. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
hear, O hear us when we pray. Thou hast promised to receive
us, poor and sinful though we be. Thou hast mercy to relieve us,
grace to cleanse and power to free. Blessed Jesus, blessed
Jesus, early let us turn to Thee. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
early let us turn to Thee. Early let us seek Thy favor,
early let us do Thy will. Blessed Lord and only Savior,
with Thy love our bosoms fill. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Thou hast loved us, love us still. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Thou hast loved us, love us still.