It's been a blessing to have
Fred and Billy Tuttle with us for a couple of months, and they're
headed back to Kentucky. I hear the snow has melted, so
they're going to be headed back home this afternoon. So if you
all want to speak to them, now would be the time to do that. Wednesday night, we've been going
through the Psalms. And Lord willing, this coming
Wednesday night, we're going to be at Psalm 23. where David
says the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want and a better
way of translating that would be the Lord is my shepherd I
shall not be in want of anything anything in this life or in the
life to come he provides it all so our hope this morning is that
we'll We'll know him as our shepherd and receive gladly the abundance
of his grace and mercy that he has for his sheep. Let's stand
together. Tom's gonna come lead us in number
239, thou art worthy, number 239. 239. Art thou weary? Art thou languid? Art thou sore distressed? Come to me, saith one, and coming
be at rest. Hath he marks to lead me to him,
if he be my guide? In his feet and hands are wound
prints, and his side. Is there diadem as monarch that
his brow adorns? Yea, a crown in very surety but
affords. If I still hold closely to him,
what hath he at last? Sorrow vanquished, labor ended,
Jordan passed. If I ask him to receive me, will
he say me nay? Not till earth and not till heaven
pass away. Finding, following, keeping,
struggling, is he sure to bless? Saints, apostles, prophets, martyrs,
answer yes. Please be seated. Good morning. Let us turn to
our scripture reading in Psalm 40. Psalm number 40. I waited patiently for the Lord. He inclined unto me and he heard
my cry. What a wonderful encouragement
that is that the Lord always hears my cry. He brought me up
and also out of a horrible pit, out of a miry clay, and set my
feet upon a rock and established my goings. A rock, of course,
is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's a rock. He has done this
for us. He has put a new song in my mouth,
even praise unto our God. Many shall see it and fear. and shall trust in the Lord.
Less is the man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth
not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. Many, O Lord my
God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done. and thy
thoughts which are to us, usward, meaning his thoughts are towards
our benefit in Christ, they are. They cannot be reckoned up in
order unto thee. If I would declare and speak
of them, they are more than can be numbered. Sacrifice and offerings
thou didst not desire, My ears has that open, burn, offerings
and sin. Offerings have not required or
the Lord open our ears to hear that, to know that the Lord is
looking for Christ's righteousness and His righteousness alone,
not anything that we do. said I, Lo, I come in the value
of the book that is written of me, the speaking of Christ. I
delight in thy will, to do thy will, O God, ye, thy law is within
my heart. I have preached righteousness
in the great congregation. Lo, I have not refrained my lips,
O Lord, thou knowest. This is the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking of his ministry here on earth. I have not hid thy
righteousness within my heart. I have declared thy faithfulness
and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy love
and kindness and thy truth from thy great congregation. Withhold
not thy tender mercies from me, O Lord. Let thy tender lovingkindness
and thy truth continuously preserve me. For innumerable evils have
encompassed me about, my iniquities have taken hold upon me so that
I'm not able to look up They are more than the hairs in my
head. Therefore, my heart felleth me.
This is also, I believe, even though we feel sometimes like
that, ourselves, but I feel this is more of Christ on the cross
when he took all our sin. He took it upon himself and his
heart felleth because of it. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver
me. O Lord, make haste to help me. Let them be ashamed and confounded
together that seek after my soul to destroy it. Let them be driven
backward and put to shame that wish me evil. Let them be desolate
for reward of their shame that say unto me, aha, aha. This is the Lord's prayer. And
we know the Lord's prayer gets answered. It does get answered. So all his enemies, Push the
shame everyone does against the gospel will be punished and will
suffer. Let all those that seek thee
rejoice and be glad in thee. We are to be glad in the Lord
Jesus Christ and in him and him alone. Let such as love thy salvation
say continuously, the Lord be magnified. This is what every
believer says. when they consider their salvation,
the Lord be magnified. No one else. The Lord be magnified. But I am poor and needy. Yet the Lord thinketh upon me.
Thou art my help and my deliverer. Make no tearing on my God. Father God, we come before you
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by his righteousness alone
by his shed blood father we come before you and we are glad and
and we are thankful that you have brought us to this place
to hear the gospel father god and we need your holy spirit
father to teach us father we need your holy spirits to open
our ears father and to be able to see christ more clearly we
are poor father we are needy father and we continue to be
so And we are in great need. We ask for thy loving kindness
to be upon us today, especially at this time. And we also pray
for all the other churches that magnify the Lord Jesus Christ.
We pray the same for them, that their gospel be clear. that it
may come forth without any fear. And we pray for the pastor's
father, we ask for the Holy Spirit to be powerful and the message
may be clear, Father. Once again, we thank you that
we have such a blessing to listen to your word, Father. In Jesus
name, we pray, amen. Let's all stand together again.
We'll sing the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin. ? Though troubles assail and dangers
affright ? ? Though friends should all fail and foes all unite ?
? Tis one thing secures us whatever be tide ? ? His promise assures
us the Lord will provide ? The bird without barn or storehouse
are fed. From them let us learn to trust
for our bread. His saints what is needed shall
ne'er be denied. So long as tis written, the Lord
will provide. His call we obey, like Abram
of old. We know not the way, but faith
makes us bold. For though we are strangers,
we have a sure guide, and know in all dangers the Lord will
provide. No strength of our own, nor goodness
we claim. Our trust is all cast on His
precious name. In this our strong refuge, for
safety we hide. The Lord is our refuge, the Lord
will provide. When life is most o'er and death
is in view, the Word of His grace will see us safe through. Not fearing nor doubting, with
Christ on our side, we hope to die shouting, the Lord will provide. Please be seated. And he that believeth in me shall
never die. Will you open your Bibles with
me to Isaiah 65, please? Isaiah chapter 65. You get a lot more out of hymns
when you have to get up and preach right after one. That hymn we just sang. We hope when we're dying that
we can cry. The Lord will provide. He will
provide. I've titled this message, Why
Me, Lord? And I don't mean that in the
way most people use it. Most people and we ourselves
have found ourselves in the midst of a trial or a conflict at least
thinking if not verbalizing, why me Lord? The answer to that question is
why not me? Why not me? That's not what we're
talking about. When the gospel is preached,
there are two responses. Two responses to the gospel.
One response is, that's not fair. The other response is, why me,
Lord? You can evaluate your own relationship
with God based on which one of those responses identifies your
heart. When we say to folks, as it is
clearly declared in the scriptures, that God is sovereign, that he
reigns above the heavens and the earth, that he hath done
whatsoever he hath pleased that no man can stay his hand or say
unto him what doest thou when we declare unto men that God
according to his own free will and his own divine purpose chose
a particular people and wrote their names in the Lamb's book
of life And the others, He just left
them to themselves. God does not have to do anything
actively in the life of a reprobate for them to go to hell. All He
has to do is leave them to themselves. In order for us to go to heaven,
God has to become active in our lives. It's called regeneration. And when we say unto men that
God the Holy Spirit sovereignly according to His will and His
time, what did the Apostle Paul say? When it pleased God who
separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace
to reveal Christ in me. He makes His people willing in
the day of His power, He does it according to His own time
and His own purpose. And when we say that the Lord
Jesus Christ as the Son of God did not lay down His life for
the goats, He did not make an offer of salvation
for men to accept or reject. He laid down his life faithfully
and effectually for his sheep. Those are the ones he died for.
And that his shed blood satisfied the demands of God's divine justice
and put away once and for all the sins of God's elect. That God looks upon his blood
for the redemption of his people. Men will respond to that message
one of two ways. They, when I've heard it, you've
heard it. If you've talked to your family members and your
friends about the gospel, that's the gospel. What I just described
is the gospel. It's the good news. The good
news is that salvation is of the Lord. He's done it all and
he did it all by himself. That's good news. God's not looking
to me for anything. He's looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ for everything. And when we say to men that there
are not rewards in heaven, differing depending upon your own personal
faithfulness here in this world, that the man who worked one hour
at the very end of the day got exactly the same thing that the
man who worked eight hours during the heat of the day. They got
the same thing. What did they get? They got Christ. They got Christ. And the self-righteous
Calvinist will say, no, sanctification is progressive. And we earn a
better place based upon our faithfulness to God. And when we say, oh no,
it is the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ that God is
pleased with and that is all our acceptance before God, what
do they all say? What do they all say? That's
not fair. That's not fair. Don't you know
that it's in God's job description to love and save everybody and
to give everybody an equal chance? Don't you know that that's the
very nature of God? You know what they say? It is what they say. This idea that God loves everybody,
Christ died for everybody, God wants everybody to be saved and
he's doing his best to make it happen, but you've got to cooperate. You see, when men hear the truth
about the gospel, they either say, that's not fair, or they humbly bow and say, why
me, Lord? Why would you have mercy upon
me? You know, there's 7.6 billion
people in this world. The population of our city, the
metropolitan area of Orlando, is 2 million. What about your own personal
family? In my family, it seems that the Lord has only been pleased
to take one here, one there, and left the rest of them to
themselves. Do you know how many people have even heard the gospel? And what ought you to be saying
right now? The same thing I'm saying. Why
me, Lord? Lord, why would you have mercy
upon me? We ought to be saying with Mephibosheth,
when Mephibosheth was brought to the king's table and sat at
the king's table and the king said, you shall eat of my fare
the rest of your life. What did he say? Why would the
king have anything to do with such a dead dog as I? Now dead dogs is what Isaiah
chapter 65 verse 1 is talking about. Paul quotes this verse
in Romans chapter 10 and he makes it clear in Romans chapter 10
that the Jews who are ignorant of the righteousness of God are
going about trying to establish their own righteousness. That's
the natural way. The natural way is that that
man believes he can present something to God, whether it be his decision
or his works or his understanding or his wisdom, he's going to
present something to God. He's not going to come to God
empty-handed, not knowing that the Lord Jesus
Christ is the end of the law for everyone that believeth.
And so Romans chapter 10 talks about the the ignorance of the
Jew trying to establish their own righteousness by the keeping
of the law. And then he closes chapter 10
of Romans by quoting Isaiah 65 verse 1. And he's talking about
those dead dog Gentiles. The Lord says, therefore, I'm
turning from Israel, from the Jews to the Gentiles. And in Romans chapter 11 he says
that all Israel might be saved. And so what has God done? He
has broken down the wall of partition between the Jews and the Gentiles
and he has brought into his church one in Christ. And here is the
verse that is quoted. Isaiah chapter 65 verse 1, I
am sought of them who ask not for me." You didn't ask for God. You didn't
have an interest in God. You didn't have a desire for
God. Oh, maybe the God of your imagination. Maybe the God of
the world. But the God who is, we're born
at enmity with Him. No man seeketh after God at any
time. We have no interest in the things
of God. And if God doesn't do a work
of grace and make us come to Him, we won't come. And the child
of God knows that. And that's why the child of God
says, why me, Lord? Why me? Out of all the billions
of people in this world, out of the millions of people in
my own city, out of the people in my own family, why would you
have mercy upon me? Why would you cause me to be
able to hear the gospel? Why would you draw me to yourself?
You see, the child of God doesn't presume upon their salvation.
They don't think that, well, you know, I'm more worthy. I made the right decision. I'm
more virtuous. I'm more interested in spiritual
things. I'm more religious. No, the child
of God is always crying, why me, Lord? Why me? I am found of them that sought
me not." Now how are you going to find something you're not
looking for? Only if that something finds
you. Why me, Lord? Why did you choose
to find me? Why did you have mercy upon me?
Lord, I would never accuse you of being unrighteous or unfair.
Trust me, you don't want God to be fair to you. God's fair to any one of us,
we're going to hell for eternity. Now that's fair. And the Lord
Jesus Christ, He went to hell for us. He was forsaken of the Father,
separated from God. bore the full burden of God's
wrath. That's why he cries in Psalm
22, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why hast thou
forsaken me? And then he answers that question,
but thou art holy. That's the reason that the God
of the fathers forsook the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross,
because his holiness would not allow him to look upon one who
had been made sin And God's holiness will not allow
the guilty to go unpunished. God's holiness will not allow
us to stand in His presence if there's any sin on us whatsoever. That's why the Lord Jesus Christ
has to bear all the sins of all of God's people of every generation
and satisfy God's holy justice. And that's exactly what he did.
And God's people say, why me, Lord? Why would you have mercy
upon me of all people? There's so many better people
in this world than me. And God says it's not because
you're better. No, to the contrary. I chose
the things which are not to bring to naught those things which
are. I chose the weak things of the world to confound the
things that are mighty. I chose the foolish things of
this world to confound the things that are wise. That's why I chose
you. I am found of them that sought
me not." I said, I said. Now, with the voice of a man,
we declare to the whole world, come to Christ. The Spirit and
the Bride say come, but the voice of the Bride command to come
to Christ is ineffectual apart from the Spirit of So it is commanded
of God that all men everywhere repent and believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. And all men stand guilty before
God for not having done so. But if the Lord doesn't speak
to our hearts, we won't come. Lord, why would you make that
audible voice Why would you make that audible voice and that audible
call and that audible command that everybody hears? There are
a lot of people here. Why would you make it effectual
for me? Why would you make me to come? Why me, Lord? See, this is the humility of
the gospel, isn't it? Behold, I said, I said, And as we saw in the first hour,
they shall be all taught of God. God's got to say it. The Lord
said, my sheep, my sheep, the Lord saw them, he had compassion
upon them. We saw this in the first hour because he saw them
as sheep without a shepherd, dumb, defenseless, dirty, dependent
sheep. And he had compassion on them.
and as their shepherd he laid down his life for his sheep. And now he says here, behold
me. Look to me. Look to me. Behold me. Behold me. And I, if I be lifted up, will
draw men to myself. The Lord calls us to Christ and
every gospel preacher does exactly what John the Baptist did. Behold
the Lamb of God. He takes away your sins. And anybody in this whole world's
sins are going to be taken away. He's going to have to take them
away. That's what John said. Behold the Lamb of God which
taketh away the sins of the world. He take away all the sins of
all the world. But anybody in the world is going
to have their sins taken away. They're going to have them taken
away by Him. John said, I must decrease, He must increase. And
now the Lord says, behold Me, behold Me. Look to Me. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Look
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Set your gaze upon Him and you
will find yourself asking God, why me Lord? Why me? Why would you do that for me
of all people? The first time God spoke, Satan accused him of being unfair. Now what he said to Eve, you
shall not surely die. That's not fair. You mean you just eat a piece
of fruit off that tree and God's going to kill you? That's not
right. That's not fair. You're not going
to die. And he's been lying to men ever since. And men have
bought the lie. They believe the lie. They've
swallowed it hook, line, and sinker, and they're still saying
in response to the word of God, that's not fair. There's one reason. There's one
answer to that question. Why me, Lord? Only one answer. to as many as were ordained to
eternal life believed. It pleased God. It is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God who showeth mercy. Why would God have mercy on Jacob
and not Esau? If you read the character of
Esau and Jacob in the Old Testament, it seems to me that Esau had
a lot more character going for him than Jacob did. Jacob was
a supplanter, he was a liar, he was a thief, he was a mama's
boy. Esau was a man's man who, you
know, he seemed to be virtuous in so many ways and yet Jacob I've loved, Esau I've hated. Turn with me to Romans chapter
9. This is the only answer to the question, why me Lord? There's no other answer. You're
not going to come with another answer. You try to find another
answer, you're going to be looking to yourself. for the reason for
God to choose you and God to save you. Romans chapter 9 verse
13, as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. God decided who he was going
to love and who he was going to hate. Now I hear preachers
talking about, well you know there's a sense in which God
loves everybody. And what they use is they use
that verse that says that the rain falls on the just and the
unjust. And the only reason the rain
falls on the unjust is because the just are still here. That's
the only reason it falls on them. As soon as the just are taken
off this world, rain's not going to fall, fire's going to fall.
There's no sense in which God loves everybody. The benevolence
that men who don't know God think that they're getting from God
is only coming to them because of the presence of God's people.
The only reason. If there's a sense in which God
loves everybody, then God's love is like our love. You know, you
love strawberries and you love your wife, and you know, we use
that word love, we just throw it around. And men think, the
Lord said in Psalm 50, He said, you thought that I was altogether
as thyself. You thought my love was like your love. No, my love's
perfect love, it's holy love. And I've set my love on my people. And those whom I don't love are
at enmity with me. They hate me and I hate them. And I'm going to leave them to
themselves. And the child of God says, Oh,
Lord, why me? Why me? Why didn't you leave
me to myself? Why would you have mercy upon
somebody like me? That's what Isaiah 65 says. I'm going to be found of them
that sought me not. What shall we say then? Look
at verse 14 of Romans chapter 9. What shall we say then? Is
there unrighteousness with God? Is God being unfair? because
he sovereignly chose to love one and hate another? Is God
being unfair? Is he being unrighteousness?
Is he being unright? God forbid. Perish such a thought. Who are you, old man, to call
God into question? But that's what men say when
they hear the truth. They call God into question. For he said to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. And some men will say, that's
not fair. And other men will say, why would you have mercy
on me? What made me to differ? And that's
why Paul asked that question in 1 Corinthians, who maketh
thee to differ? What do you have that you did
not receive? And if you received it, why do
you boast as if you didn't receive it? Who makes thee to differ? For the scripture says unto Pharaoh,
and here's the answer to every question, what saith the scriptures."
It's not what I think or what some dead theologian taught or
what some denominational creed presents. What saith the scriptures? And here's what the scriptures
said, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I
might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth." And every time God sent a plague,
the scripture says, and God hardened Pharaoh's heart. How did God
harden his heart? By leaving him alone. If God
doesn't take away our heart of stone and put in a heart of flesh,
if he doesn't cause us to believe, our hearts will just get harder
and harder and harder with every demonstration of God's glory. We'll become more hardened against
him. Therefore, therefore, Hath he
mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he wills, he hardeneth. Some of you will say then unto
me, why doth he yet find fault in me? And some will say that. Some
will become fatalistic about this thing. They'll say, well,
then God can't accuse me of wrongdoing because it's all in his hands. What I'm trying to say this morning
is cry from your heart, Lord, why me? Why me? Don't become fatalistic and don't
become accusatory. Be a mercy beggar. for who have resisted his will
how can god find fault in me no man's able to resist the will
of god preacher if you're saying that all men are saved up that
are saved because god wills it and that is what i'm saying and
how can god find fault with me day all don't even think all
man Who art thou that replyest against
God? You see, such a reply is against
the sovereignty and the grace and the mercy of God. Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the
potter power over the clay and of the same lump to make one
vessel unto honor and another of dishonor? Now here's the answer to why
me, Lord. Because God willed it for His glory. Because God willed it for His
glory. And here's the look. What if
God, willing to show His wrath and
to make His power known, endured, that's why I said, endured with
long-suffering vessels fitted for destruction. That's the reprobate.
That's the one who says it's not fair and God is enduring
them. He's just leaving them to themselves.
He's just waiting for their day of destruction and that he might
make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy,
which he had for prepared under glory. You see, here's what the
child of God is saying. When confronted by the Spirit
of God with this truth, here's what the child of God is saying,
Lord, I could be just like that. I could be just like that. I'm
no different from them. Why would you choose me? Why
would you call me out? Why didn't you leave me to myself? Because I willed that you be
mine. And I'm going to be glorified
by choosing you. Out among many. Not because you
were better. But because I willed to save
you. For my glory. For my glory. The best example I can think
of in the scriptures is found in Luke chapter 4, and you know
the story. Our Lord is beginning His public
ministry, His three-year public ministry, and He goes back after
His baptism in the 40 days in the wilderness. He goes to His
hometown Nazareth to preach the first gospel recorded, first
gospel message recorded that the Lord preaches publicly. And He goes to His friends and
He preaches in Luke chapter 4 and uses the text from Isaiah chapter
61. The spirit of the Lord is upon
me and declares himself to be the Messiah. And the scripture
says that many people wondered at the gracious words that came
out of his mouth. They thought, he's claiming to
be the Messiah. Is he not the son of Joseph?
Is he not the child of Mary? Do we not know his brothers and
his sisters? And then he interpreted that
passage to them. And here is what he said, he
said in the day of Elijah the prophet there were many widows in Israel but God showed mercy upon none
of them except for the widow of Sarepta, the city of Zidon. Now the previous chapter in 1
Kings chapter 17 tells us that Jezebel who was the problem,
Ahab was king of Israel, Jezebel was leading him around by his
nose and leading him into all sorts of idolatry and the wrath
of God had come and the Lord had called out Elijah, the prophet,
to expose the sin of the king and the sin of Israel. And the
scripture says that Jezebel was the daughter of the king of Zidon. And here the Lord sends the prophet
outside of Israel to the very place where this Jezebel was
from whose father was the king and pulls out a widow and has mercy on her. You remember he gets it, there's
a drought and he gets to the city and people are dying and
he finds this woman at the city gate and he says, give me to
drink. And she gives him water to drink. And he says, now give
me some bread. And she said, it's just me and
my little boy. And she said, I've just got enough
meal to make one cake, and we were going to eat it and die. And the prophet said, make yourself
a cake, but make me one first. And give to me, and I promise
you that God will provide for you. And she did. She believed the word of the
prophet. She did what God had commanded her. and her meal never
ran out for the rest of the drought and she never ran out of oil
and her and her son were saved. Her son later died and the prophet
had to raise him back up, you remember? But here was a widow
who was a Zidonian, who was notorious for Jezebel and God had mercy
upon her and the Jews that heard the Lord, they knew all about
this story. I'm sure they didn't think about
it much or didn't teach it much because they were offended that
the Lord showed mercy on a Gentile. And the scripture says, then
he went over to Elisha, the prophet of God after Elijah. And he said, there were many
lepers. in Israel during the days of
Elisha, but God showed mercy upon none of them except for
Naaman, who was the king's army commander in Syria who were the
bitter enemies of Israel, had just routed Israel and taken
away many of their people. One of the people that they took
away was a little girl who became the maid to the wife of Naaman. And she said, oh, that my master
would go to the prophet in Israel. He would heal her. He would heal
him. And Naaman went. And Naaman was
healed of his leprosy. And Naaman believed in the God
of the prophet Elisha and went home with two camel loads full
of dirt from Israel whereby he might kneel and worship Jehovah
God. And that woman of Sarepta and
that leper of Syria must have been thinking, why me? Why me? Why'd you choose me? The people of Nazareth became
so angry that they tried to murder the Lord. And he slipped out
from among them and never went back. Why? Because they were thinking,
that's not fair. God is obligated to have mercy
on us. We're Israelites. We're Jews. We've got the law. We're doing
things the right way. And then you have Saul of Tarsus,
a self-righteous, murdering Pharisee. And he's got the letters from
the high priest to arrest anyone who professes the name of Christ
and bring them back to Jerusalem and have them put to death. And
God stops him in his tracks on the way to Damascus, knocks him
off his high horse and speaks to his heart and the rest of
Saul, Paul's life. Why me, Lord? Why would you choose
me? Peter, an impetuous, uneducated
fisherman, chosen of God to be the leader of the apostles. And Peter was asking the same
question that you and I ask, Lord, why me? Why'd you have
mercy upon me? What about the woman at the well?
I must need to go through Samaria. I've got a child there I'm going
to save." And here she was a social outcast
from even her Gentile community, her Samaritan community. Been
married five times, couldn't go to the well in the cool of
the day, had to go in the middle of the day. The Lord had ordained
all of that. And she would say in the rest
of her life, Why did you save me? Why did
you chose to have mercy upon me? What about Onesimus? Paul meets Onesimus probably
in jail in Rome, a runaway slave, and sends him back to Philemon
with a letter saying receive him as a brother. And here this
runaway slave was saying all of his life Why
me, Lord? Why'd you chase me down, even
to Rome? I was trying to run from God. You can't run from God. Jonah tried to run from God,
didn't he? It's not possible to run from God, not if you're
one of his. I know where my sheep are. I'm going to leave the 99.
I'm going to go out in the wilderness. I'm going to get every single
one of them. And when they come to me, they're going to be saying
for the rest of their life, why me, Lord? Why me? Zacchaeus, an unscrupulous, hated tax collector. Zacchaeus, come down. I must
go to your house today for salvation has come to your home. Zacchaeus gave half of what he
had back to the people he had stole from and spent the rest
of his life. Lord, why me? Why me? What about you? When you hear
the truth of God's sovereign grace in salvation, don't you know Mary Magdalene?
She had seven demons cast from her. She was a notorious sinner.
Probably a prostitute. Everybody knew who she was. Why
would you let that woman touch you? She's the first at the tomb. She's there at the cross. And
she's spending all of her life. Lord, why me? Why would you have
mercy upon somebody like me? Question, does the gospel cause
for you? Does it cause you to say, well,
you know, that doesn't seem fair. Would it cause you to fall in
submission, in love and say, Lord, why me? Our merciful heavenly father,
we're thankful for the hope of our salvation and we are humbled that you would
have mercy on such dead dogs as us. Oh Lord how thankful we
are. We ask now that you would that you would give us the hope
of knowing that we belong to you. Give us faith to rest all the
hope of our salvation on thee. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. I stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus, the Nazarene. And I wonder how he could love
me, a sinner condemned and unclean. How marvelous, how wonderful. And my song shall ever be, how
marvelous, how wonderful. At the Savior. Love for me. Number 452 would
you stand please number 452 Tom come please lead us in that him. 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 thee. 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 for 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 wondrous, 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
in my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful
is my Savior's love for me. th th