That worked. In case you weren't here the
first hour, let me announce again that we will be having services
this Wednesday night. I know Thanksgiving is Thursday
and most of the time in the past we have not had Wednesday night
services on Thanksgiving week, but I want us to have service
this week and I hope that you'll be able to come and be a part
of that. Isaac and I were talking during
the break and we were saying how we don't, we don't agree
for Cody. Not at all. I mean, I'm so thankful
for him and I, and I'm jealous of him. I really am. I mean,
he's, uh, you know, I know, I know the religious world says, well,
they're in a better place now. I've got somebody in my life
right now that's talking that way and, but for Cody, he is. He is. He loved Christ. He loved you. Wynna wanted me
to say to you this morning how much she appreciated this church
and all that you have done to support them, to love them, to
help provide for them. And God has given her exceptional
grace. Woke up this morning thinking
about this verse of scripture if you'd like to turn with me
in your Bible to Psalm 145 I Will extol thee my God Oh King,
I will bless thy name forever and ever That's that's what she's doing
right now she wants you to know that church and in Merida is
meeting right now. And Cody's son, Austin, is going
to be preaching there this morning. Every day will I bless thee and
I will praise thy name forever and ever. Great is the Lord and
greatly to be praised and his greatness is unsearchable. She's not, Winn is not saying,
you know, God, why have you done this? This is not right. It's
not fair. It's not that thought even coming into her mind. It's
his greatness is unsearchable. We know that what he does is
right. One generation shall praise thy works to another and shall
declare thy mighty acts. I will speak of the glorious
honor of thy majesty and of thy wondrous works. Might God give
us the grace to do that, to speak of his majesty and honor and
glorious works. I hope that will be our experience
here this morning. Let's stand together. Brother
Tom is going to come and lead us in the hymn on the back of
your bulletin. To Christ the Lord let every
tongue its noblest tributes bring. When He's the subject of the
song, who can refuse to sing? Who can refuse to sing? Survey the beauties of His face,
And on His glories dwell. Think of the wonders of His grace,
And all His victories tell, And all His victories tell. Thou hast redeemed our souls
with blood, hast set the prisoners free, hast made us kings and
priests to God, and we shall reign with Thee, and we shall
reign with Thee. The whole creation join as one
to bless that holy name of Him who sits upon the throne and
to adore the Lamb, and to adore the Lamb. Please be seated. Good morning. Would you turn
to Psalm 89 for a scripture reading Psalm 89. We're going to begin in verse
24. The Psalm speaks of King David. We
know this is our David. The Lord Jesus Christ seated
on the right hand on the majesty on high. Pray be pleased to speak
to our hearts as we read this together. Verse 24. But my faithfulness and my mercy
shall be with him, and in my name shall his horn be exalted. I will set his hand also into
sea, and his right hand in the rivers, he shall cry unto me,
thou art my father, my God, and a rock of my salvation. Also I will make him my firstborn,
Lord Jesus Christ, the invisible image of God, the firstborn among
creatures, higher than the kings of the earth. My mercy will I
keep for him forevermore and my covenant shall stand fast
with him. His seed, the church, also will
I make to endure forever and as strong as the days of heaven.
If his children forsake my law and walk not in my judgment,
if they break my statutes and keep not my commandments, Then
will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity
with stripes. Our Heavenly Father will chastise
His children, but always with a tender heart. Nevertheless,
my loving kindness, His grace, will I not utterly take from
Him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not
break nor alter the things that has gone out of my lips. Once
have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His
seed, the church, shall endure forever and is thrown as the
sun before me. Our brother Cody is experiencing
that forever right now. And very soon, won't be long
brother Greg, long to experience that as well. Shall we pray? Gracious and merciful Father,
overwhelmed with such gratitude that you would gather the vial
of the vial here this morning to be in front of thy presence,
holy and sovereign and just and right and good. We know, Lord,
the only reason why we're here is because of thy dear son, our
David, who is seated on your right hand, whoever liveth to
intercede for us, and how it pleased you before the foundation
of the world to place us in him. Lord, he is our all and in all.
He is our sin bearer. He is our standing before you.
He is all our righteousness. Our sin you remember no more
because of what we did to him when he shed his precious blood. Lord, we want so much for you
to speak that truth once again to our hearts. Lord, forgive our unbelief and
forgive the fears and Lord, we need for you to give
us faith. Pray you would do that this morning. Help us as you
bless the word and the message you've given our brother. Lord,
would you would you enable us to enter into that? Thankful for your faithful gospel
preachers. Thank you for Brother Greg and
all the men who are standing this morning. Proclaiming once
again, thy dear son. And Lord, we once again ask that
you would comfort, bring peace and quiet and grace to Winna
and the children, to the Groover family, to the believers in Houston
and Lord, the believers in Yucatan. Lord, we ask that if it be your
will, you will provide a pastor according to your heart once
again to continue the work that you have started there. Pray that for this congregation,
too, Lord, that you would raise one here. Bless your word now, Lord. Bless. Give us ears, give us eyes, for
we ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Number 41 from your Gospel 10 book. Lord, I need you now. Let's all stand together. Or 41. Te necesito ya, bandito salvador,
Me enfunde dulce paz, tu tierna voz del amor. Te necessito, Cristo,
si te necessito, con corazon contrito, acudo a ti. Te necesito ya, tú no me dejarás,
y siempre venceré si tú conmigo estás. Te necessito, Cristo,
si te necesito, con corazon contrito acudo a ti. Te necesito ya, tu santa voluntad,
y tus promesas mil en mi cumplen verdad. Te necessito, Cristo,
si te necessito, con corazon contrito, acudo a ti. Te necesito ya, Santísimo Señor. Tú no hagasme nada más, bandito
salvador. Please be seated. Somebody's watching us online
right now thinking there's something wrong with their computer I Learned from being around my
brother Cody what it meant to need Christ and have a contrite
heart just watching him and Thankful we're able to sing that this
morning Turn with me in your Bibles to
Isaiah chapter 33. Isaiah chapter 33. The Lord said, my sheep hear my voice
and they follow me. Here's my question for you and
me this morning. How do I know if I've heard his
voice? How do I know that he has spoke
irresistibly to my heart? And I've heard him say, come
unto me. That's the important question.
I wanna know. I don't wanna be deceived. I don't want to think that the
voice of a man is the voice of God. I want to know that I've
heard His voice, and I want you to know that you've heard His
voice. And there's some things in our
scriptures this morning, the scriptures, our passage that
we're going to look at, that I hope will confirm to your heart
one way or the other. If you've heard His voice, yes,
that's my experience. And if you haven't, oh Lord,
speak to me. Make this to be my experience. I need to hear from God. Verse 13 of Isaiah chapter 33.
How do I know if I've heard him? Hear ye that are far off what
I have done. I know that I've heard his voice
if I've heard about what he has done. What has he done? He has satisfied the demands
of God's law. He's the end of the law for righteousness.
We don't pride ourselves in thinking that we've ever been able to
keep any of God's precepts or laws. We love them, we look at
them, we desire them, but we know that God's law, though it
be holy, just, and good, doesn't make us holy, it doesn't justify
us, and it doesn't add to our goodness. Christ is the end of
the law. I've heard him. I've heard him
say from Calvary's cross, it is finished. The work is accomplished. We don't believe in a gospel
message that requires us to do something to make what he did
work for us. We believe that he's finished
the work. Have you heard that? You heard? It's very freeing. If you know
the truth, the truth will set you free. What liberty there
is, where the Spirit of God is, there is liberty. Liberty from
what? Liberty from the rigors and the
demands of the law of God. I can't keep God's law. Hear ye that are far off what
I have done. What else has he done? He bore
in his body all the sins of all of God's elect. Christ Jesus
the Lord did not come into this world to make an offer of salvation
or to do something for us. He offered himself up on Calvary's
cross to the Father. Bore in his body all the sins
of all those whom God chose in the covenant of grace before
time ever began He satisfied not only the law, but he satisfied
justice He satisfied justice he put away the wrath of God
and He suffered in his body the full wrath of his father. It
pleased God to bruise him. God took the sword of his own
justice and sheathed it into the heart of his own son. What
Christ did on Calvary's cross was for God. It was for God. It was to satisfy the demands
of God's holy justice and he did it. And God said, I'm satisfied. I'm satisfied. Have you heard
that? Are you still listening to a
message that says, well, you know, there's still something
left for you to do? If you've heard that it's done,
look what he says. And ye that are near, acknowledge
my might. I rejoice in acknowledging His
power. Yes, Lord. Oh, what great comfort,
what great hope, what great joy there is in acknowledging His
omnipotence, His sovereignty, His power, His ability. We join our voices with the angels
of heaven and we say He is worthy. He is worthy of the highest honor,
the highest respect, the highest glory, the highest worthy. for He's created all things.
He created them for His good pleasure, for His glory. I know that I've heard, if I've
heard, that the work of redemption is finished. The second thing
that I see in this first verse, as to whether or not I've heard
the voice of God, is that there was a time when I was far off,
and He has made me now near. When I first heard, I was far
off. I was worshipping another God. I was bowing to the God of my
own imagination. Actually, I'd set myself on the
throne of God. I'd taken God down, and I had
made myself to be God. Believing that I was the final
word. I was the final work. I was the one that That secured
my own salvation. I was a far-off. I didn't know
anything. I didn't know anything about
God And so what does he say? Here ye that are far off. I was I was far off you see that
to be far off means that you're lost and Have you ever been lost? I mean lost, dead, separated
from God, didn't know God, were at enmity with God. Everything
you believed about God was contrary to God. You were an enemy of God in your
own heart. You were far off. You would you
had raised your fist to God and said I'll not have that man reign
over me So I've never had that Well, I doubt you've heard the
voice of God Because the Lord that's where
he finds his sheep and He leaves the 99 and he goes out and finds
the one who has wandered long way from him. All we like sheep
have gone astray, each unto his own way. That's where God finds
his sheep. He finds them far off. He finds
them out in the wilderness of their own imagination and their
own sin. You ever been there? Are you there now? That's who he speaks to. God
says, hear ye that are far off, and ye that are near. Oh, he's
caused me to come. I wouldn't have come if he'd
not made me come. You won't come to Christ. You
will not come to me that you might have life. Why? Because
coming to Christ exposes you for what you are, a sinner. And
men love darkness rather than light. And so God has to force
us. He has to make us. No man will
come to the Father, no man will come unto me unless the Father
draw him. Now in James, it speaks of the
shame of believers taking, being drugged to court. And the scripture
says, it talks about the wealthy man dragging the poor man into
court, forcing him. It's the same word. It's the
same word over there in James that talks about being drugged
against your will into court and what the Lord Jesus Christ
said when he said, you will not come unto me. Unless the Father,
which sent me, drag you. Drag you. He's made me to come
near. He sat me down at the feet of
the Lord Jesus Christ. I just want to hear His voice.
So I don't know if I've heard the voice of God. Ask Him to
make you. Make you willing in the day of
His power. And you'll know when you get
near to him that you weren't always there. You were not always
there. You were once dead and now you've
been made alive. You were once in darkness and
now you're standing in the light. You were once lost and now you
found. And you'll say with that blind
man that the Lord Jesus Christ healed. You remember when the
Pharisees were interrogating him about who this was that healed
him and he said, you know, I don't know. I can't answer all your
theological questions. All I know is that once I was
blind and now I see. Once I was a far off and now
I've been drawn near. I heard His voice afar off, and
now He's brought me to His feet, and I acknowledge His power. I acknowledge His power. I willingly
bow to Him. I willingly worship Him. I delight
in His glory. And I believe that His work is
finished. It's finished. Have you heard his voice? How
do I know if I've heard? Well, look at verse 14. Now,
usually when we use the word sinner, we're talking about believers. You know, sinners and saints
are the same people. Don't, don't, don't, don't fashion
your theology after a Billy Joel song. You know, I'd rather, what
did he say, I'd rather, I'd rather laugh with the sinners
than cry with the saints, for sinners have much more fun. He
got it wrong. Sinners and saints are the same
people. You can't be a sinner unless
God's made you a saint. And you can't, you can't be made
a sinner unless God makes you, you can't become a saint until
God makes you a sinner. So they're the same people. Same
people. But here, he's not talking about
believers. He's talking about hypocrites.
Those who come, pretend to know God, act like everything's good
between them and God, and it's just an outward show. It's just
an outward show. But these people know in their
heart of hearts that there is a God with whom they must do
and they're not ready. They're not ready. They fear
death. They fear hell. They hear about
someone like our brother Cody dying and they think like somebody
told me. Cousin of mine told me just a
couple days ago standing over my mother's deathbed. I Told
her I said, you know, we're all right behind her just a few more
days and she was the same age as me I said, oh no, I don't
want to think about that. I don't want to think about that Believers think about it every
day And they love the thought of it. They know that it does
not yet appear what they shall be, but they know that when he
shall appear, they shall be made like him, for they shall see
him as he is. And they don't fear death. They
don't fear the grave. They don't fear hell. They don't
fear hell. God's delivered them from that.
Perfect love casteth out fear. God has not given us the spirit
of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound or saved
mind. I've heard the voice of God when
God's delivered me from the fear of hell. I don't worry about
that anymore. Christ went to hell for me. He
suffered the full wrath. He put away the justice of God.
God doesn't have to satisfy His justice with me. But look what
these sinners, these hypocrites, these pretenders say. The sinners in Zion are afraid. Are you afraid of hell? Afraid to go in there yourself? Paul said, for me to live is
Christ, to die is gain. I meant it when I said I'm jealous
of my brother Cody. I meant it. And I mean it with
all my heart when I say to you, we just got a few more days. And there's a hell to be shunned.
There's a heaven to be gained. Oh Lord. Take the fear of death
out of my heart. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
4. Hebrews chapter 2, I'm sorry. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 14. Now here's the question, has
God spoken to me? Has he told me that the work
is done? Has he shown me that there was
a time when I was a far off and he's now drawn me near? Is the
greatest delight of my life to be in his presence, to be among
his people, to hear his word, to have him comfort my soul and
my heart with a hope of the gospel? Is that my greatest joy? If these
things aren't true of you, then you haven't heard. And my hope
is that you'll be saying, oh Lord, speak to me. Speak to me. You know, someone says, are you
talking about an audible voice preacher? No, I'm talking about
something a whole lot louder than that. A whole lot louder
than that. Audible voices can be confusing.
Just lose your hearing and you'll see how confusing audible voices
can be. You misunderstand what people
say and you don't hear what they say. But when God speaks to the
heart, there's no doubt about what he says. It's clear, it's
comforting, it's convicting. That's the kind of voice I'm
talking about. It's a whole lot better than an audible voice.
Now look what the Lord says in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 14. For
as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
he also himself likewise took part of the same. He took on
the body of a man. Why? Because he had to suffer
death. And he couldn't do that without
God gave him a body. He was born of a woman. He was
born under the law to redeem them who are cursed by the law.
God dwelt among us. He became flesh and He dwelt
among us and we beheld His glory. Here's God in the body of a man. We beheld His glory as a glory
of the only begotten of the Father, the one who is not like us. He's
holy, undefiled, separate from sinners. We beheld his glory
as the glory of the only begotten of the father full of grace and
full of truth But he had to be made in the body of a man and
he came in the flesh Why that through death he might destroy
him that had power of death that is the devil and deliver them
who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to
bondage and There was a time when you were
in bondage to that fear. Afraid of hell. Now what the Lord come to do?
To set those free. He suffered it in our stead.
He took our place. He satisfied the demands of God. He went to hell for us. separated from the father. That's
why he cried on Calvary's cross, my God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? When God saw sin on his darling
son, he had no choice but to forsake him and to put him to
death. Now, if he did that to his son,
what's he going to do to you? See, if you're looking to what
He did for Christ, what He did in Christ, and Christ is the
hope of your salvation, then you don't have to worry about
Him doing that to you. There's no double jeopardy with God.
Once God satisfies His justice, there's no going back to the
law. There's no going back to the law. Have you been delivered from
the fear of hell? Look, go back with me. The sinners
in Zion are afraid. Fearfulness hath surpassed the
hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with
a devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with
everlasting burnings? He's talking about hell. So how can a man contemplate
hell and not be afraid? Now our fear is not for ourselves. We know that Christ suffered
the burning wrath of God's justice to deliver us from the bondage
of that fear. Now our genuine fear of our heart
is for our friends and loved ones. We don't grieve for Cody. We grieve for ourselves. But
if we have a family member or loved one or somebody we know
that's dying without Christ, we grieve in a different way
for them, don't we? We grieve for them. The scripture
says we don't sorrow like other men. We've got a whole different
view of death than the world has. We don't we don't talk about
people who are dying without Christ and talk about how they're
going to meet up with somebody else who died before them and
They're gone. They're gonna enjoy each other's
company and have a have a party together. That's the kind of
talk I'm listening to Among unbelievers Comforting
one another speaking peace peace to one another's hearts when
there really is no peace there But we do have peace We're not
like the hypocrite. We've got hope, we've got comfort,
we've got joy. We know that the fires of hell
have been quenched for us. Why? Because we've heard his
voice. We've heard him say it. We've
heard him say it. He said, you believe in God?
Believe also in me. For in my Father's house are
many dwelling places. I go and prepare a place for
you. I will come again and receive you unto myself, so that where
I am, there you may be also. Let not your heart be troubled.
Let not your heart be troubled. Oh Lord, I've heard your voice
and my heart's been delivered from the fear of hell. I'm looking
to Christ as the one who suffered that justice for me. But the
hypocrite And I suspect there's some here, the one who's pretending
to know God who doesn't. You know in your heart of hearts,
the bondage of that fear is there. Ask God to speak to you. Lord,
speak to my heart. Reveal yourself to me. Verse 15, how do I know if I've
heard the voice of God? What we saw in verse 13. That
I know the work is finished. I know it's done. I know there
was a time I was far off. I worshipped a different God.
I didn't know the truth. I didn't know God. I was alienated
from Him. I was at enmity with Him. I was
separated from Him. Everything I believed about Him
was wrong. And He drew me near. He made me willing. He sat me
down at the feet of Christ. And He revealed Himself to me.
And He's delivered from me. He's delivered me from the bondage
of the fear of hell because I know that Christ did that. I've heard
his voice. You see, what it all boils down
to is that the evidence of our salvation
is faith. We're talking about believing
God. Do you believe God? If He's spoken to you and you've
heard His voice, you just believe it. You can't not believe it. You believe God with all of your
heart. You know it's true. You know He's true. You know
He cannot lie and you've cast all the hope of your salvation
on His Word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
comes by the Word of God. This is God's Word. This is not
my word, this is not your word, this is not the opinions of men,
this is not religious dogma, this is not platitudes, it's
not pie in the sky, this is the word of God. And if you've heard
his voice, you're hanging everything on
that. Everything. He that walketh uprightly, uprighteously. What is it to walk uprighteously?
It's to walk after Christ. There's now therefore no condemnation,
Romans chapter eight, verse one, to them who are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. For they
that are of the flesh cannot please God. We're born into this world with
one nature. That's a flesh. It's all we've
got Until God gives us a new nature a new heart and he does
it in that same Romans chapter 8 It says if you have not the
Spirit of God do none of his so it's the Spirit of God that
gives you a new nature and Causes you to look to Christ and to
walk after him I've got no I've got no option
but to look to Christ and He's given me his spirit. I've heard
his voice. I'm not walking after the flesh.
I'm walking after the spirit. Flesh is not my rule. Christ
is my rule of life. I'm in the flesh. I've got this
old flesh, this body of death that's strapped to my back that
I'm carrying around and it dogs me every day. And I long for
the day when I'll be shed of it. And the corruptible will be made
incorruptible. And the mortal will be made immortal. And I'm going to have a perfect
body. You know, the second thing that thrills my soul above seeing
Christ is the thought, and I don't even
know how to think it. I don't even know how to think
this thought, but I know it's true. The thought of not having
any sin. I can't imagine. I can't imagine. My thoughts being pure and holy,
my words being perfect, my actions, everything. Without sin, I've
never experienced it. Never experienced it. I'm looking
forward to it. Are you? Are you? If He's spoken
to you, you are. I know you are. And if you're
not, ask Him to speak. Speaketh look at we're still
at verse 15 now and speaketh uprightness Now the Lord said
in Matthew chapter 12 Make a tree good and its fruit will be good
make a tree evil and its fruit will be good evil of our out
of you cannot bring a good fruit out of an evil tree and you can't
bring evil fruit out of a good tree and then he says out of
the mouth and He's now he's going to identify those that what that
what that fruit is in religion people go around doing fruit
inspection You know and say I want to see if your life measured
up to my life or if your life. It's so that's such hypocrisy
That's such self-righteousness That's the man who's talked about
in verse 14 the hypocrite Who's trying to cover up his own sin?
by making passing judgment on you and Here's the fruit. That passage
in Matthew chapter 12 says, by your words you shall be justified,
and by your words you shall be condemned. And what does God
say? That the one whose I've spoken
to speaks uprightly. What do you say about Christ? What do you say about the gospel?
What do you say about yourself? What do you say about God? You
see, if God's spoken to you, you say what he says. You say
what he says. It's just that clear. You say with what God says, I'm
a sinner. If you confess your sins, he's
faithful and just to forgive you. If you agree with God about
what he says about you, that you're nothing but sin, you can't
do anything but sin, I can't produce any, my righteousness
is the best thing I ever do, is this filthy rags before God.
Man at his very best state is altogether vanity, and that's
what I say. Because God said it. Christ is the only one that's
righteous. He's the only one that's holy,
acceptable before God. Oh, I've got to be found. I don't
know anything to do but just look to Him. Look to Him. And I speak of His grace and
of His glory. He's the one who decides who's
going to be saved and who's not. God makes that choice. How do
I know that? Because that's what he said.
And I speak uprightly. He said, I'm the potter and you're
the clay. And I've got the sovereign right to make out of the same
lump of clay, the lump of humanity, I can make vessels of honor and
I can make vessels of dishonor. And who are you to say unto me,
why makest thou me thus? I will have mercy upon whom I
will have mercy, and whom I will, I'll harden. And I speak up rightly. Say amen. God, whatever you do
is right. Oh, have mercy on me. Have mercy
on my soul. The work is finished. We're God
satisfied. Christ has ascended into glory.
We say the same thing that God says. We speak up rightly. By your words, you shall be justified. And by your words, you shall
be condemned. You talk like the religious folk
talk, making Jesus Lord of your life. Those kind of words will
condemn you. Asking Jesus to come into your
heart as if your free will had anything to do with it. Those
kind of words will condemn you Boasting in your good works as
if they somehow Merited you favor with God those kind of words
will condemn you by your words You will be justified and by
your words you'll be condemned What say ye? What say ye? You say what God says Or you say what man says Look at
the next one, verse 15. He that despiseth the gain of
oppressions, he thinks gain is godliness. That's what the natural man thinks. He thinks, well, if I gain knowledge,
I'm gaining in godliness. If I gain in good works, I'm
gaining in godliness. If I gain advantage over my fellow
man, I'm gaining godliness. 1 Timothy 6, verse 5, he thinks
that gain is godliness. And what does the man who's heard
the voice of God say? As soon as someone starts to
put something in his hand that is a works gospel, what's he
do? He shakes it off. He gets rid of it. He doesn't
want to be around it. That's what he said. Look there.
It is right there He shaketh his hands from holding a bribe
that word bribe is It's the word for for for works
he's a works gospel a Works gospel does two things it robs Christ
of his glory and it robs you of your hope and And if so, does someone suggest
that the gospel of God's free grace has anything to do with
gain? What do you do? If you've heard
the voice of God, you shake that out of your hand as quick as
you can. You don't want any part of it. He stoppeth his ears from the
hearing of blood. I knew that word gain meant something,
it means a bribe. That word gain is most often
translated bribe in the Bible. Now to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of works. You're not gonna
bribe God into saving you. And somebody suggests to you
that there's something you can do to gain godliness, And to
manipulate God, you're going to shake it out of your hand
as quick as you can. If you've heard His voice, why? Because
you're not going to rob Christ of His glory and you're not going
to rob yourself of the hope of your salvation. Look at the next
one. He stops his ears from the hearing
of blood. Now, I want to say something here. that grieves my soul. And I want to speak particularly
to the young people. I think most people with some
maturity understand that when you put words out there, you're more careful about what
you say when you get a little older. But young people are, I don't do look at me. No, that's
not it. It's Facebook. I don't do that. But every once in a while, somebody
will send me a post from Facebook that a believer wrote. And generally,
it's a young believer or a young person. And it grieves my soul
to see. And it's out there. I mean, it's
out there. Once you put it out there, the world's reading it.
You can't take it back. Be careful. Don't ever write
anything when you're angry. Don't write anything when you're
depressed. Be careful. Don't put it out
there. If you want to avoid it all, just
get away from looking at me and you won't have to worry about
it anymore. It's modern day gossip. I know that everybody uses it. And if you use it properly, fine.
But the warning here is about using it not properly and here's
what God says if you've heard his voice You stop your ears from the hearing
of blood You don't slander You don't You're careful he that
covereth a transgression seeketh love, but he that repeateth a
matter separates friends Love covers a multitude of sins
God's made you to be a sinner You're a whole lot more tolerant
with other people's sins Because you believe yourself
to be the chief of all sinners. And you want to cover other people's
sins because God's covered yours. I've heard his voice. He's made
me a sinner. Oh, Lord, give me the grace to
not just expose everybody else's sin. He that repeateth a matter separates
friends. We stop our ears from the hearing
of a false gospel, don't we? I don't want to hear it. I'm
not gonna go to it I'm not gonna listen to it. I'm not gonna tune
it in. I'm not gonna I We're just not
gonna do it Why because we've heard his voice He shut his eyes from seeing
evil There's a lot in this world we need to shut our eyes to isn't
it I But here's what God says in Isaiah chapter 42, who is
so blind as my servant seeing many things but observing not?
God has shut his eyes to our sin. He separated them from us as
far as the east is from the west. He says, I remember them no more.
I remember them no more. Oh Lord, give me the grace. Look at, I'll close with the
last verse in this chapter. The inhabitants of Jerusalem,
look at verse 424. And the inhabitants shall not
say, I am sick. Why not? For the people that
dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquities. I'm holy. Sinless. Perfect before God. Why? Because I've heard His voice.
I've heard His voice. Have you heard His voice? Our Heavenly Father, we're so
very hopeful that You will be pleased to speak to our hearts
by Your Word. And we ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Brother Tom. Number 31 in this hymn. We'll
repeat the last two lines in each verse twice. Hear the voice of grace and glory
in our dying Savior's cry, rending rocks and hills asunder, and
the veil to bring us nigh. It is finished! It is finished! Our victorious Savior cried. It is finished! It is finished! Our victorious Savior cried. It is finished. See God's pleasure
prosper in our risen Lord. Covenant blessings without measure
flow to us by Jesus' blood. It is finished. It is finished. O how sweet the
Saviour's word! It is finished! It is finished! O how sweet the Saviour's word! Finished all justice demanded,
finished all required by law, finished all portrayed and promised
in the shadows of the law. It is finished, it is finished. Bow, believe, rejoice with all. It is finished, it is finished. Bow, believe, rejoice with all. Jesus finished our salvation
when he died upon the tree. Righteousness and full redemption
redemption for his love and chosen seed It is finished Hallelujah
praise the Lamb of Calvary It is finished Hallelujah praise
the Lamb of Calvary Don't worry about it.