Good evening. Let's open tonight's
service with hymn number 36 from your hardbacked hymnal, A Mighty
Fortress is Our God, number 36. Let's all stand together. A mighty fortress is our God,
the bulwark never failing. Our helper He amid the flood
of mortal ills prevailing. For still our ancient foe Doth
seek to work us woe His craft and power are great And armed
with cruel hate On earth is not his equal Did we in our own strength
confide Our striving would be losing? Were not the right man on our
side The man of God's own choosing? Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus it is He, Lord Sabbath
is His name, from age to age the same, and He must win the
battle. And though this world with devils
filled Should threaten to undo us We will not fear, for God
hath willed His truth to triumph through us The Prince of Darkness
grim We tremble not for Him, His rage we can endure, For lo,
His doom is sure, One little word shall fell Him. That word above all earthly powers,
no thanks to them abideth. The spirit and the gifts are
ours through him who with us sideth. Let good and kindred go. ? This mortal life also ? The
body they may kill ? God's truth abideth still ? His kingdom is
forever Please be seated. The body they may kill. His truth
abideth still. Fear not them who can kill the
body, but fear Him rather who has the power to cast both body
and soul into hell. And that's who we fear. We've
come here to fear Him, to worship Him, to bow in His presence and
ask Him for His blessings. Will you open your Bibles with
me to Psalm 31, please? Psalm 31. And that's our text for the message.
So let's read Psalm 32 for our call to worship. Blessed is he whose transgressions
is forgiven and whose sin is covered. Let me ask you, can
you think of a better blessing than that? There is no better
blessing. People talk about being blessed
of God. They're always referring to temporal things, aren't they?
There's no blessing like the blessing of having our sins forgiven. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity and in whose spirit there is
no guile. Oh, we know who that man is,
don't we? And that's how we have our sins forgiven. And in him,
we speak the truth about ourselves. We speak the truth about God.
Having a mouth filled with guile is to be telling lies about God. God's people don't do that. Verse three, when I kept silence,
my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For
day and night, thy hand was heavy upon me. My moisture is turned
into the drought of summer. But our Lord say from the cross,
I thirst, I thirst. I acknowledge my sin. I'm just so encouraged to know that
when the Lord bore in his body our sin, when God made him who
knew no sin to be sin, that he owned our sin as his own. I acknowledge
my sin unto thee and mine iniquity have I not hid, I said, I will
confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgave us
the iniquity of my sin. And John said, whosoever confess his sin before
God, that word confess is to agree with God that we're sinners. For this shall everyone that
is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found The Lord mayest be found right
now. Surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come
nigh unto him. Thou art my hiding place. Thou
shalt preserve me from trouble. Thou shalt compass me about with
songs of deliverance. I will instruct thee and teach
thee in the way which thou shalt go. I will guide thee with mine
eye. Be not as the horse or as the
mule, which have no understanding, whose mouth must be held in with
bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee. Many sorrows
shall be to the wicked, but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy
shall come pass him about. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice,
ye righteous, and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart. Let's pray together. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we pray for you to be pleased in this hour to send your Holy
Spirit in power and to confirm to our hearts that our transgressions
have been forgiven, that our iniquity has been taken away,
or that we have received of you a double blessing. the blessing
of righteousness, justification, sanctification, holiness in the
person of our savior, thy dear son. Oh father, how we pray that
you would enable us to set our affections on him. We pray that you would open the
windows of heaven and she would cause us Lord in this moment
of time to find our rest, our hope, our peace, our comfort,
and all our salvation in thy blessed son and his accomplished
work of redemption. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Let's stand together once again
We'll sing hymn number 452, which is My Savior's Love. I stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus the Nazarene, and wonder how he could love me, a sinner
condemned unclean. How marvelous, how wonderful,
and my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful
is my Savior's love for me. For me it was in the garden He
prayed not my will but thine He had no tears for his own griefs
But sweat drops of blood for mine How marvelous, how wonderful,
and my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful
is my Savior's love to me. In pity angels beheld him and
came from the world of light. To comfort him in the sorrows
he bore for my soul that night. How marvelous, how wonderful,
and my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful
is my Savior's love for me. He took my sins and my sorrows,
He made them His very own. He bore the burden to Calvary,
And suffered and died alone. How marvelous, how wonderful
And my song shall ever be How marvelous, how wonderful Is my
Savior's love for me When with the ransomed in glory His face
I at last shall see It will be my joy through the ages to sing
of His love for me. How marvelous, how wonderful,
and my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful
is my Savior's love for me. Please be seated. Will you open your Bibles with
me again please to Psalm 31. Psalm 31. I've titled this message
Perfect Faith. Perfect Faith. All the sayings that are recorded
in the scriptures that our Lord spoke from the cross, all seven
of them, were Old Testament passages of scripture. As was true of everything the
Lord ever thought, He gloried in the word of God. The last
word that our Lord spoke from Calvary's cross is found in Psalm
31. Father, into thy hands I commend
my spirit. That's the very last thing he
said. And what that tells us is that the Lord Jesus Christ
was faithful to believe his father to his dying breath. He's the
faithful one. Now we know that it is by grace
that we're saved through faith. that not of ourselves. It's a
gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. God gives
His people faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. We have
perfect faith in that we believe perfectly that He is perfect. We have... You remember what
we looked Sunday morning on 1 John chapter 5. Turn with me back
to that passage. I realized after I finished preaching
Sunday that I I never got to verse 5. I never got to verse
5. We went to Mark chapter 8. You
remember when the disciples, when the Lord asked the disciples,
whom do you say that I am? Thou art the Christ, the son
of the living God. That's our confession of faith.
And oh, how we do believe that he is the Christ. He is the Christ. When Philip told the Ethiopian
eunuch After he asked, what doth him to be baptized? If thou believe
us with all thine heart, thou mayest with all thine heart.
What the Ethiopians say, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son
of God. Oh, I do believe that. That's my faith. That's my confession.
That's my hope. For whatsoever is born of God
overcometh the world and this is the victory that overcometh
the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the
world? but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God. That's the confession of our
faith. We believe that he came as the
Christ, that he's the fullness of the Godhead bodily, that he
accomplished everything that the Father sent him to do, that
he was faithful and obedient to the father in everything he
did, every thought he had, every word he spoke, every step he
took. He was the perfect faithful one. And he gives us the faith to
believe on him as the one who has pleased the father. Abraham believed God and it was
counted unto him for righteousness. He just believed God. Now there's
a difference between having faith and being faithful. Okay? Saving faith is believing on
the one who was faithful. That's what saving faith is.
We're resting all our hope in his faithfulness. Michael and
I were talking about it verse of scripture in Proverbs chapter
20. Turn with me there in your Bibles this morning, or this
evening. We were talking this morning about this verse. Proverbs chapter 20, look at
verse six. Most men will proclaim everyone
his own goodness. That's most men. All the unrighteous
believe themselves to be righteous. Most men will proclaim their
own goodness before God. They will present their righteousness
before God for the hope of their salvation. But a faithful man,
who can find? Who can find a man that is faithful? A man who truly is perfectly
righteous in the sight of God. David said, I will speak of thy
righteousness even of thine only. Our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags before God, and faith believes that the Lord Jesus Christ is
perfectly righteous in the presence of a holy God. We believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I want us to look at several
verses in the New Testament before we get to our text in Psalm 31. Will you turn with me to Galatians
chapter 2? Galatians chapter 2. Look at verse 16. Knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law. We're not going to present our
goodness. We're not going to try to atone for our sins. We're
not going to put the hope of our salvation in our righteousness,
knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law. If we're
going to do the works of the law, we've got to keep the whole
law. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. To everyone
that what? Believe it. So there's our perfect
faith, believing on the one who satisfied all the demands of
God's law. But by the faith of Jesus Christ,
even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified
by the faith of Christ. So we believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ who justified us by His faithfulness. And we believe perfectly in that.
We have no other hope, no other claim. Not by the works of the
law, but by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Now look at chapter 2 verse 20.
I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live
by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself
for me. So it's his faithfulness It works in us, causing us to
will and to do of His good pleasure, causing us to look upon Him. I live by the faith of the Son
of God. He is my life. Look at chapter
3, verse 22. But the scriptures have concluded
all under sin. Paul said, We know that the law
is spiritual, but I'm carnal, sold under sin. Everything about
me is sinful. There's no hope of my salvation
if God's looking to me for anything. The scripture hath concluded
all are under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might
be given unto them that believe. So we do believe on the one who
was faithful, father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. Everything
I've done was faithful to you and I'm trusting you to reward
me for my faithfulness. Who shall stand in the presence
of God? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart, who's that? Who's that? We've got to be found
in Him, don't we? Not having our own righteousness
which is of the law. Turn to me to Ephesians chapter
3. Verse 11, according to the eternal
purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord in whom
we have boldness and access by the faith of him. Come boldly to the throne of
grace that you might find help and grace in your time of need.
We come boldly. We come with confidence. Where is our confidence? Where
is our confidence? Is it in ourselves? I'm telling
you, the older I get, the less confident I become. I mean, I'm
much more confident, I'm much less confident now than I've
ever been in my whole life. I question myself more now than
I ever have before. If I have to come before God
based on my confidence, I'm, but I am confident. I am confident
that He is faithful. I'm completely confident that
we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Righteous
One, who in His dying breath said, Father, into Thy hands
I commend my spirit. Paul put it like this when he
was writing Timothy. He said, if we believe not, if we believe
not, in other words, we have a We have an unfaithful way about
ourselves. If we believe not, yet he abideth
faithful for he cannot deny himself. So the body of Christ is part
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He cannot deny himself. And when
we are unfaithful, he's faithful and he cannot deny himself. The
confidence, the boldness that we have is in his perfect faithfulness. And our perfect faith rests in
his perfect faithfulness. And yet like that man who came
to the Lord and said, Lord I do believe. Oh help thou mine unbelief. There's the two natures. There's
the two natures. The new man can't do anything
but believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The old man He never
believed anything. What that man was saying was,
Lord, I thank you that you've given me a heart, a new heart
to believe on you. But I've got this old flesh I
need help with. Help me. Help me. Todd, I talked to Todd Neibert
today and he was telling me he got an email from somebody and
they accused him of being, of preaching sinless perfection
and being an antinomian. And he said that in the same
sentence. Sinless perfection and antinomian.
That's what he accused him of. You believe in sinless perfection
and antinomianism. And I told Todd, I said, well,
I can certainly see how an unbeliever would hear our preaching. And
when we talk about the new man, they would think we believe ourselves
to be sinlessly perfect, which we are in Christ. And when we
talk about the old man, they would interpret that as to believe
that we're antinomian, we're lawless, we're, you know, we
have no, desire to oh Lord I believe help thou mine unbelief oh help
my old man restrain him our faith is in the faithfulness
of the Lord Jesus Christ we're not putting our faith in our
faithfulness and we're not putting our faith in our faith you see it's not the degree of
faith it's the object of our faith It's the object of our
faith. Who do we believe? Whom do you
say that I am? Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. Turn with me to Romans chapter
3 verse 22. Oh, wait a minute. Before you
do that, turn to Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter
3 verse 9. and be found in him, not having
my own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is
through the faith of Christ." The righteousness which is of
God by faith. Our faith is in the faithful
one. He's perfectly faithful to satisfy
all the demands of God on behalf of his people. We rest our hope
in him. Finally, turn with me to Romans
chapter 3, verse 22. Verse 21 says, but now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus
Christ unto all and upon all them that believe, for there
is no difference." There's no difference. Abraham believed
God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. He believed
the promises of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. All the promises
of God are yea and amen in Christ. So the Lord Jesus Christ is the
fulfillment of all God's promises. We believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and we believe that His faithfulness is sufficient for
our righteousness before God. Alright? Turn with me to Psalm
31. Psalm 31. And we don't have to be reminded
again that these are the words of Christ. You know, I've been
thinking a lot about I had an uncle when I was a kid. I was
a daydreamer. A lot, I guess, because he would
always say to me, he said, penny for your thoughts. I never knew
what he meant. Now I know that my thoughts weren't even worth
a penny. But, you know, we talk to ourselves a lot in our minds,
don't we? We have a lot of thoughts, don't
we? And the scripture says that every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil and that
continually. Psalm 94 verse 11 says, the Lord
knoweth the thoughts of man that they are vanity. That they are
vanity. We have very few of the thoughts
of the Lord Jesus Christ recorded in the New Testament in terms
of what he said. John put it like this. John said,
if all the things that the Lord had done were recorded, the world
will not contain the books that would be necessary to record
all the things. And part of what he's talking
about there is the Lord's thoughts. The Lord Jesus Christ was in
constant fellowship with His Father every moment of every
day. He was thinking the Word of God
all the time. He's not like us. My thoughts
are not your thoughts and my ways are not your ways. The Lord
Jesus Christ was faithful in His thoughts towards the Father. He didn't look at something and
try to have to figure it out like we do. He didn't have vain
thoughts about this and that. I'm not talking about just the
evil thoughts that we have and we have plenty of those. I'm
talking about just the vanity of our thoughts. David put it
like this, when I stood in his presence, I was as a beast, a beast. Daniel said, my comeliness was
turned into corruption. Well, woe is me, Isaiah, I'm
undone. We talk a lot about the things
that the Lord did and the things that the Lord said and how important
those things are. But I want you to think with
me for a moment about the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ God
looks at the outward, a man looks at the outward appearance, God
looks at the heart. God the Father was looking into
the heart of His Son all the time and God the Son was in fellowship
with the Father all the time. And even when the sky was blackened
during those three hours on the cross, when God forsook His Son
because His Son became sin, even then, the Lord Jesus Christ's
thoughts were on his father. Here's the truth. You and I have
never been able to have a holy thought and he had nothing but
holy thoughts all the time. All the time. Now whose faithfulness
do you want to depend upon? He was faithful. He was faithful
in what he did. He was faithful in what he said.
He was faithful and what he thought, all of his thoughts, all the
time were holy thoughts. And these Psalms express that.
In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust. Never let me to be put
ashamed. Deliver me in thy righteousness. Bow down thine ear to me. Deliver
me speedily. Be thou my strong rock for a
house of defense to save me. Here's the cry of the Lord Jesus
Christ to his father. Now these words aren't recorded
audibly. Verse 5 is recorded, but this is all in the context
of verse 5. What was the Lord Jesus Christ
thinking about while He was on the cross when He wasn't speaking? These are the words that He was
rehearsing in His heart towards the Father. Father, be my strong
Be my strength, be my rock, for thou art my rock and my fortress. Therefore, for thy name's sake,
lead me and guide me. Pull me out of the net that they
have laid privately for me, for thou art my strength." Oh, they
tried to entrap him, didn't they? They tried to foolish men trying
to catch God and they laid a net for him. They thought that they
were controlling the circumstances of his crucifixion. They didn't
know that he was the one in charge of all of that. And through it all, he's saying,
thou art my strength, into thy hands I commit my spirit. Father, I'm gonna believe you
to my dying breath. I'm gonna be faithful to trust
you to keep your promises for thou hast redeemed me. The Lord
Jesus Christ believed that the redemption of his body from the
grave had already been accomplished. The covenant promise had been
made. Father, I'm gonna commit my spirit unto you for thou hast
redeemed me. You've made a promise to redeem
me and I made a promise to be faithful to you. And we're both gonna keep our
promises. For thou art the Lord God of
truth. Truth. Oh, our Lord was so free,
wasn't he? He was free in his death. You
know the truth, truth sets you free. He truthfully, he believed
God for all the truth and was confident. I have hated them
that regard lying vanities, but I trust in the Lord. We don't always hate those who
have lying vanities, not with a perfect
hatred, do we? Oh, but he did. He did. And he trusted his father. Perfect
faith. Whose faith are you trusting
in? Is your faith in his faithfulness?
I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy for thou has considered
my trouble. Thou has known my soul in adversities. Father, I know you see me exactly
where I am and I'm going to rejoice and
I'm going to be glad. Thou has shut me up into the
hand of the enemy. Thou has not shut me up into
the hand of the enemy. Thou has set my feet in a large room. Oh, what a large room the room
of redemption is. What a large room the room of
heaven is. And that's where God has set
our feet. That's the Lord Jesus Christ is confident on the cross
while he's dying. These are the thoughts that he's
having. These are the words that he's expressing to his father
without verbalizing them audibly for us to hear except for the
one. Father, I'm confident that you're
going to raise me from the dead. And I'm confident that you're
going to reward me for what I've done, for I've been faithful. What is his reward? What is his
reward? Not just his resurrection, not
just his ascension, not just his rightful place back in glory,
but his bride, isn't it? That's his reward. That's what
he came to do. He came to save his people. And
he was confident that the father would reward him with a bride.
He paid the full dowry price for that bride, didn't he? His
precious blood. And he was confident that the
father was going to give him his bride. Are we confident in
him? Not confident in ourselves. Not
confident in ourselves. The more you grow in grace and
the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, the more of your own
sin you're going to see, the less confident you're going to
become in yourself, but the more confident you can become in Him.
You see, we really don't become confident in Him until we lose
the confidence of our own self, do we? As long as we have some
confidence in ourselves, then we don't need Him. Have mercy upon me, verse nine,
oh Lord, for I am in trouble. I'm in trouble. Mine eye is consumed with grief,
yea, my soul and my belly. Oh, that God would give us the
grace to cry out to him. We follow after the Lord Jesus
Christ, don't we? What confidence we have when
there's a strong man who is completely able to save to the uttermost
them that come to God by him. What confidence we have. And we can say also, Lord, I'm
in trouble. I'm in trouble. Mine eye is consumed
with grief, yea, my soul and my belly for my life is spent
with grief and my years with sighing, my strength faileth
because of mine iniquity." We remember what iniquity is,
don't we? It is not, Lord, I can't measure
up. That's what iniquity is, an inability
to measure up. That means all of my goodness,
all of my righteousness is As David said, are as filthy rags,
that's iniquity. The Lord is taking our iniquity
on himself and making it his own, owning our sin and our iniquity
as his own. And he says, my bones are consumed.
They burned within him. Not one of them was broken. That
sacrifice went wholly to God, but he was He felt the fire of
God's wrath for the iniquity of his people. I was approached
among all my enemies. They mocked me. They said, if
you'd be the son of God, come down. He saved others, he can't
save himself. You know, his Roman soldiers
put a veil over his face and beat him. and said, if you're
a prophet, tell us who hit you. And here's his words. I was reproached
among all my enemies, but especially among my neighbors. It wasn't
just the Romans, but it was the children of Israel. The people
that I called and I blessed and I anointed as the people of God,
they have turned against me. and a fear to my acquaintances."
Now that's his disciples, that's his friends. What did they do?
What did they do when those Roman soldiers showed up with the priest
at the Garden of Gethsemane? And Peter took off the ear thinking
he'd be brave and the Lord restored the ear of that man. But what,
when they arrested the Lord, what did the disciples do? They
scattered, didn't they? They were scared to death. They're
gonna kill us all. And hear our Lord say, I was
approached among my enemies, among my neighbors? Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how
many times, you that stone at the prophets, how many times
I would have taken you as a hen takes in her chicks, and you
would not. Our Lord was grieved over their unbelief and their
hatred towards Him, and brokenhearted. This is all ordained of God.
Remember David wrote this, these words a thousand years before
the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world. A thousand years
before his incarnation. And a fear to mine acquaintances,
they that did see me without fled from me. Oh, they fled,
they ran for their lives, they hid out. And then even after
the crucifixion, what did they do? They huddled in the upper
room They never had boldness till the Spirit of God came. And they cast all caution to
the wind, didn't they? They went out and preached the
gospel. No, they were threatened with their very lives. What did
they say to the Sanhedrin? You decide for yourself whether
we should obey God or whether we should obey man, but it's
for us. We're gonna obey God. The Lord has sent us to preach
the gospel. I am forgotten as a dead man,
out of mind, I am like a broken vessel. What those disciples on the road
to Emmaus say, have you not heard? Now they're speaking to the Lord
Jesus Christ who's walking with them. And he said, what's wrong
with you guys? What's bad? Why are you so downcast?
Have you not heard? The one that we thought was a
prophet, was the prophet has been crucified? He's gone. He's
a dead man. We've lost all hope. There's
no hope of salvation. And beginning with Moses and
the Psalms and the prophets, he began to expound unto them
those things concerning himself. And when they got to Emmaus,
what happened? He acted as if he would go on. Well, there's
a message in that, isn't there? The Lord's not going to enter
anybody's house that doesn't ask him, oh Lord, come into my house. And he acted as if he would go
on. And the disciples pleaded with
him to stay and eat with them and spend the night with them.
And as in the breaking of bread, their eyes were open. And what
did they, and then he disappeared. And he went back to meet with
the disciples who thought he was dead. They all thought he
was dead. Oh, did not our hearts burn within us as he spake with
us along the way? That our hearts would burn within
us. Yes, he died. And he said, I'm
forgotten as a dead man out of mind. I'm like a broken vessel
for I have heard the slander of many. Fear was on every side
while they took counsel together against me and they devised to
take away my life. But I trusted in Thee, O Lord. I said, Thou art my God. My times are in Thy hand. Lord,
this was all the plan. This was the ordained purpose. Everything that's happening to
me is exactly how we purposed it, exactly how we planned it. Deliver me from the hand of my
enemies and from them that persecute me. Make thy face to shine upon
thy servant. Save me for thy mercy's sake. Brothers and sisters, our time
is in his hands also, isn't it? All the events of this life are
in his hands. And there is an appointed time
in his hands for us to leave this world. It is appointed unto
man wants to die. And it was appointed unto the
man once to die. And after that, the judgment.
And the man has gone before, and he's presented himself, the
faithful one, the faithful servant of God. And God judged him righteous. Righteous. Make thy face to shine upon thy
servants. Save me for thy mercy's sake. Let me not be ashamed, O Lord,
for I have called upon thee. Let the wicked be ashamed and
let them be silent in the grave. Those who know nothing about
having faith in the Lord, believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. If a person leaves this world
without the Lord Jesus Christ, it would have been better had
they never been born. Let me not be ashamed. And we
have no reason to be ashamed. Also, I'm not ashamed of the
gospel. It is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that
believeth. We're not ashamed. We rejoice in being able to... We're
not ashamed before God. We have an advocate. Verse 18, let the lying lips
be put to silence, which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously
against the righteous. Everyone who claims to have some
claim on God outside of Christ is lying, presumptuous, contemptuous,
and they're speaking against the Lord Jesus Christ, who is
the righteous one. Any man who presents any righteousness
outside of Christ for his acceptance with God is speaking contemptuously against
the Lord Jesus Christ, robbing him of his glory and salvation.
Oh, how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them
that fear thee, which thou hast wrought for them that trust in
thee before the sons of men, What is the hope of our, who
is the hope of our salvation? Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. I'm persuaded. I'm persuaded
that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him
against that day. I'm persuaded of it. I'm not persuaded of much.
I don't, I don't, you see the, the more, the more doubtful I
become about myself, the more confident we become in him. Verse 20, thou shall hide them
in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man. Thou shall
keep them secretly in the pavilion from the strife of tongues. Blessed
be the Lord, for he has showed me his marvelous kindness in
a strong city. Now that word strong is the word
fenced. It's a walled city. It's the new Jerusalem that comes
down from heaven. And those walls are walls of
protection. And the Lord hides us in that
city and shows us his marvelous kindness in the church, isn't
it? Oh, how kind he is, how good
he's been to us, how undeserving we are. of his faithfulness,
of his mercies and his grace, his love. But they're still part of his
faithfulness, isn't it? Not only was he faithful in his
very thoughts before his father the whole time he was here. He
never had a vain thought. He never sat around daydreaming. He didn't think like we think. Holy, perfect fellowship. That's the frustrating thing
that we experience as believers. We want to enter into that experience
and we can't. We can't. And we're not going
to be able to until we shed this flesh. And then we'll see Him as He
is and be made like Him. We're going to have a holy thought.
We're going to have holy thoughts for all eternity. We're not going
to have evil thoughts. Nothing's going to abide in heaven
except righteousness. That's what scripture says. Our
thoughts are going to be perfect and pure and holy for all eternity. Oh, what a glorious day that'll
be. Rid our minds of all this foolishness. Just foolishness,
isn't it? And he had them all the time.
And he shows kindness. Part of his faithfulness is not
just the fact that he was faithful to the Father in keeping the
law. In heart and soul he kept the law. But he's faithful in
redeeming his people. He's faithful in making his marvelous
love known to us. And he's going to be faithful
in not leaving one of his children behind. For I said in my haste, I am
cut off from before thine eyes. Now that's what the Lord said
when he said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Lord,
why have you cut me off? Why have you cut me off? Why
have you forsaken me? Now the Lord was fulfilling prophecy
when he said that. And here's one of the places
where I said in my haste, why has that cut me off? Nevertheless,
thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto
thee. The father heard that prayer
and he answered it. Oh, love the Lord, all ye his
saints, for the Lord preserveth the faithful and plentiful rewardeth
the proud doer. He resists the proud and gives
grace to the humble, doesn't he? Faith is humbly trusting
the Lord Jesus Christ for all your faithfulness before God. Be of good courage. Don't be
afraid. How powerful is the emotion of
fear? And everybody's got a way of
covering it up, don't they? All of us have figured out a
way to cover up our fears. And I was talking to somebody
today and I said, you know, one of the most fearful groups of
people in the whole world, are comedians. They are. I mean, how many comedians,
you know, commit suicide? What are they doing? They're
covering up their fear. And we all have a way of doing that,
don't we? And the Lord says, be of good courage. Don't be
afraid. I love you. I know the thoughts
that I have for you, thoughts of good, not of evil, that bring
you to your expected end. I came to my expected end and
I'm going to be faithful to make sure you get to your expected
end. And the only thing that's going to cure your fears, see
what's the flip side to the coin of fear? What's the opposite
on the spectrum of fear? Faith. Faith. It's not covering up your
fears. It's not pretending like you
don't have fears. It's having those fears drive
you to Christ and resting the hope of your salvation completely
on Him. And so He says, He says, be of
good courage and He shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope
in the Lord. We have a Savior that was perfectly
faithful to His Father. to his dying breath father into
the hands I commend my spirit and we know that we have faith when we've been brought to believe
that we don't have any faithfulness all the hope of my salvation
is in him but I believe that he is the son of God I, more than anything else, with
all my heart, whom do you say that I am? Thou art the Christ.
This is He that overcometh the world, even our faith. They that
have faith confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He's
the faithful one. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we're so very thankful for your word, and oh Lord, we pray that
you would speak truth and comfort and peace to our hearts beyond
what any audible words can say. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. Let's stand together. Brother
Tom? Number 30 in the spiral hymnal, number 30. so Glory, glory, I'm forgiven. All my sins are washed away. Christ, by his great blood atonement,
all my sin has put away. Sin imputed to my Savior when
He died upon the tree. As the substitute for sinners,
God will not impute to me. Glory, glory, I'm accepted, robed
in Christ's own righteousness. I'm a child and heir of heaven,
saved by God's almighty grace. Christ's obedience to The Father
is imputed now to me. In God's sight I'm pure and holy. He declares me so to thee. Glory, glory, I'll not perish. In Christ's hands I am secure. He who saved me sure will keep
me. By God's grace I shall endure. This is not a vain presumption,
I just take him at his word. Christ has sworn they shall not
perish who believe on me their Lord.