Jesus, lover of my soul, let
me to thy bosom fly. While the nearer waters roll,
while the tempest still is high, hide me, O my Savior, hide. till the storm of life is passed. Safe into the haven, God, O receive
my soul at last. Other refuge have I none, hangs
my helpless soul upon Thee. Leave Ali, be not alone, still
support and comfort me. All my trust on thee it stay,
all my help from thee I bring. Cover my defenseless head with
the shadows of Thy way. Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
more than all in Thee I find. Raise the fall, cheer the faint,
Heal the sick and lead the blind. Just and only is Thy name, I
am all unrighteousness. All sinful of sin I am, Thou
art full of truth and grace. Plenteous grace with Thee is
found, Grace to cover all my sin. Let the healing streams
abound, Making keeps Y'all can be seated. Still have your Bibles open to
Psalm 76. In Judah is God known, his name is great in Israel. In Salem also is his tabernacle
and his dwelling place in Zion. All these names symbolizing his
church and the promise of his dwelling. where two or three
are gathered together, there I am in the midst of them. There
in Salem, in Israel, in Judah and Zion, there break he the
arrows of the bow, the shield and the sword, and the battle. He makes his people to put down
the weapons of their rebellion and to bow in submission. to
beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning
forks. No longer do they rebel against
their God. They bow in gratitude and praise
and worship for what he's done and for who he is. Thou art more
glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey. The stout-hearted
are spoiled They have slept their sleep, and none of the men of
might have found their hands." We don't look to the work of
our hands, do we? There was a time when we thought, you know, I've
got some strength, I've got some might, I've got some ability.
And then the Lord reveals Himself, and our strength is turned into
corruption. And His strength is made perfect
in our weakness. We don't look to the work of
our hands anymore. At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob,
both the chariot and the horse are cast into a deep sleep. Thou, even thou, art to be feared,
and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry? Thou
didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven. The earth feared
and was still. When his wrath fell from heaven
on Christ, hanging on that Roman cross, the earth stood still. When God arose to judgment to
save all the meek of the earth, Selah. Now one of the reasons
I wanted to read Psalm 76 tonight is for the next verse. I, like you, have been listening
to a lot of foolishness when it comes to people trying to
figure out what happened here in our city last Saturday. And as horrible as that is and
as much as we grieve for the families that lost loved ones,
I'm not surprised I'm not asking how could this happen, why did
this happen. What amazes me is that it doesn't
happen every day. Every day. When you consider
the number of unstable people that there are in this world
and the accessibility of weapons, and I don't make that statement
with any political agenda, just a fact, they're just accessible. Why doesn't something like that
happen every day? This verse tells us, the wrath of man shall praise
thee. God will use this for his glory
and for the good of his people and the remainder whatever he
can't use for his glory and for the good of his people, he will
restrain. And that's the only reason that
doesn't happen every day. The only reason it doesn't happen
every day is because God is restraining the evil of men. Vow and pay unto the Lord your
God Let all that be round about him bring presence unto him that
ought to be feared. He shall cut off the spirit of
princes. He is terrible to the kings of
the earth. Let's pray together. merciful and glorious Heavenly
Father, we come before thy throne of grace thanking you that we
have an advocate. We have a sin bearer. We have
one who has satisfied all the demands of thy holy law. One
who has suffered the full judgment of your wrath for all the sins
of all your people. Oh, what hope, what comfort,
what grace, what peace we have in knowing that for Christ's
sake, for Christ's sake, sin's been put away and you have been
made propitious. Father, we continue to pray for
our leaders, for Our governing authorities, you've told us to
pray for kings and for those in authority that we might have
peace in this land. And Lord, we do pray that for
the gospel's sake and for your people's sake that you would
provide for them the wisdom, Lord, to know how to provide
a place of peace. Pray for the families that are
suffering, and we ask, Lord, that you might be pleased to
make yourself known to some of them. And, Lord, we thank you. We thank
you that you do restrain the evil of man and that we are able
to live in a land of peace. Pray for your Holy Spirit now
to Open our understanding and give us rest in Christ. For it's
in his name we ask it. Amen. We're going to sing to him now,
number 158. And to Hardback, you can remain seated. Number
158. Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly dove, With all thy quickening powers,
Kindle a flame of sacred love. In these cold hearts of ours
Look how we grovel here below Fond of these earthly toys Our
souls how heavily they go to reach eternal joys. In vain we tune our formal songs. In vain we strive to rise. Hosannas languish on our tongues. and our devotion dies. Dear Lord, live at this poor dying rate. Our love so faint, so cold to
Thee, and Thine to us so great. Come, Holy Spirit, heav'nly dove,
With all thy quickening powers, Come shed abroad a Savior's love,
And that shall kindle ours. Aaron and Jamie Greenleaf are
going to be vacationing this coming up next week in Boca Grande,
just south of Sarasota. Aaron will be going up to preach
for the group in Sarasota on Sunday night. If the Lord enables
you to pray for them and pray for Aaron, I know they would
appreciate that. We open your Bibles with me to
Genesis chapter 30. Genesis chapter 30. Jacob has lived up to his name,
the supplanter, the deceiver, by deceiving his father, Isaac,
and stealing Esau's birthright, the blessing, that the Lord gave
to the firstborn went to Jacob. And there's a verse, actually
before we get to our text, there's a verse in Genesis chapter 27
at verse 22 where Jacob comes to his father Isaac And his father
is not able to see. He's blind. And you remember Jacob's mother gets him to wear
the skin of an animal on his hands so he would deceive his
father. And I love this verse. verse 22, and Jacob went near
unto Isaac, his father, and he felt him and said, the voice
is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. I was
thinking about that in that verse that we read in Psalm 76. When
we cry out for mercy, the Lord would say, the voice is your
voice, but the hands that give you access into my presence are
not your hands. They're not your hands. They're
your elder brother's hands. And you have acceptance and blessings
from God, not because of the works of your hands, but because
of the works of his hands. Now, look at verse 27 in chapter
30. And Laban said unto him, Now, Jacob has, you know, he's
reaping what he sowed. Laban has done to him what he
did to his brother Esau. Isn't that the way life is? We really do. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. Whatsoever
man sows, that shall he also reap. And he's reaping what he
sowed. His father-in-law, Laban, is
Rebecca's brother, Jacob's uncle. And remember, he goes and he
meets Rachel, and he falls in love with Rachel, and he wants
to marry Rachel, but Laban deceives him and gives him his firstborn
daughter, who was Leah, and Jacob had to work seven more years
to get Rachel. So now 14 years have passed,
and he's has Rachel and Leah as wives, and they've born him
12 children. And now, well, 11 children. Joseph
has been born. Benjamin's not yet been born.
And the Lord instructs Jacob to leave Laban. Laban is deceiving Jacob, and so Jacob's
gonna take his things and leave. Now over those years that Jacob
was with Laban, God blessed Laban for Jacob's sake. And there's
a verse here in verse 27, Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if
I have found favor in thine eyes, tarry. Now you see the word Terry
is in italics, it's not in the original text, but it certainly
is implied. That's what he's, that's what
Laban's saying. Oh, please, if I have found grace in thy sight,
please don't leave. Stay. Terry, remain here. For I have learned by experience
that the Lord has blessed me for thy sake. What a prayer. Lord, if I found grace in your
sight, don't leave me. Don't leave me. For I have learned
by experience that the blessings of God have come my way for Christ's
sake. That's the only hope I have.
The only hope I have to be blessed by God is that the Lord would
bless me for Christ's sake. Turn with me to Joel chapter
2. This blessing begins when God
sets the hearts of His people to pray. He puts it on our hearts
to know that the only hope that we have to be blessed by God
is for Christ's sake. Lord, Terry, don't leave me to
myself. For I have learned by my experience,
I know it to be true by the revelation of the gospel in your word, but
I also know it to be true by my experience, that the Lord
has blessed me for Christ's sake. And I want to begin by by encouraging
you and me to ask the Lord to turn us. Lord, put that prayer
on my heart. Cause me to cry out such a prayer
to you. look what look what the Lord
says in Joel chapter 2 at verse at verse 12 therefore also now
sayeth the Lord turn ye even to me with all your heart and
with fasting and weeping and mourning and rend your heart
not your garments This isn't a matter of making some sort
of outward show of religion or some sort of outward show of
works. It's a matter of rending the
heart. Lord, you've got to do a work of grace in my heart.
A broken and contrite heart, He will not despise. Why? Because
He gives you that heart. We're not interested in folks
dressing up the outside. This gospel begins with a work
of grace in the heart. Lord, take out my heart of stone,
put in a heart of flesh, cause me to cry out unto thee. Rend your heart and not your
garments and turn unto the Lord your God, for he is gracious
and merciful. Here's his here's his motivation
to us to cry out Come on to me all you that labor heavily. I'll
give you rest My yoke is eased. My burden is light you have not
because you asked not I know the thoughts that I have for
you. Thoughts for peace and not evil to bring you to an expected
end. I'm a God of mercy and grace. I'm a God who loves you with
an everlasting love. Why would you stay away from
me? Why would you not come to me? I'm full of mercy. I'm full
of compassion. I got to thinking about this.
And I want to say this with with as much compassion as the Lord
will enable me. But what does a young man who
would join ISIS have in common with a person who would join
any other cult, religious cult, or a person that would join a group of people like the, what do they call it,
the LGBT community, lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transsexual community, what would cause a person, what
do they have in common? What does the shooter have in
common with the people that he was shooting? Other than the fact that the
things that have come out about him. Everybody's looking for love
and acceptance. That's the motivation. Now you
peel the onion down to its core. And that's what people are looking
for. Love and acceptance. And a young man who doesn't have
it is an easy prey to be brought into a radical group of whatever
sort, of whatever sort. It's because they're looking
for love and acceptance. Now, where is the only place
that you're going to find that? I have loved you with an everlasting
love, and you are accepted in the Beloved." You see, everybody's
looking for love in all the wrong places, aren't they? You just
trace it right. Whatever problem, you bring it
down to its base and that's it. They're looking for love and
acceptance and the only place that's going to be found is in
Christ. And what the Lord's saying is,
I've loved you with an everlasting love and I accept you. Why would
you stay away from me? I'm full of mercy. I'm full of compassion, slow
to anger, and of great kindness. And repenteth him of the evil. Look at verse 14, Joel chapter
2. Who knoweth if he will return
and repent and have a blessing behind him? even a meat offering
and a drink offering unto the Lord your God. That's the blessing
we need. We need a meat offering. We need
a drink offering. And who knows? He's saying, seek
out the Lord with your heart. Rend your heart, not your garments.
Seek Him. He's the one who's long-suffering. He's the one who's gracious.
He's the one who's merciful. He's the one who will love you
perfectly. and forgive you and accept you
for Christ's sake. Who knows? Maybe He'll leave
a blessing. And what will be the blessing?
The meat offering and the drink offering. What is that? Unless
you eat of my flesh and drink of my blood, there's no life
in you. The meat offering is the life
of the Lord Jesus Christ lived out in perfect righteousness
before God. He fulfilled the law and he stands
instead of his people before God. The drink offering, that's
the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross that
washes away all our sins. And so Laban says, I pray thee,
I plead with you, don't leave me, tarry. I need you. Why? Because I've learned by experience
that the blessings of God have come my way for your sake. And oh, I want to be blessed
by God. I don't want to be running around
looking for love in all the wrong places. I don't want to be caught
up in the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the
pride of life. I don't want to do what other people are doing,
trying to find purpose and meaning in life. I want to have the life
of Christ in my heart. Rend your heart, not your garments.
And that begins when God puts it on your heart to ask for that. to ask for that. Now he's not
rewarding you with a blessing because you've asked. But what
I'm saying to you is that if you ask, you'll receive. And if you ask, it's because
he put it on your heart to ask. You remember when Daniel was
praying and the Lord came and answered his prayer and he said,
and I love it because the Lord said, Daniel, When your heart
was set to pray 14 days ago, I heard you. The Lord let him
pray for 14 days. He had heard him from the very
beginning. Why? Because God put it on Daniel's heart to pray. Prayer is not for changing God,
it's for changing us. Daniel had to experience those
14 days of crying out to God for mercy in order to enjoy the
blessing that was to come. Lord, set our hearts to pray,
and give us this spirit, I pray thee, if I have found, you see
that word favor, that's grace. That's grace. Lord, if I found
grace in your sight. See, none of this comes as a
reward for anything that we do. It's all of grace. Grace, grace
unto it. It's all of God's grace. God
doesn't reward us for anything. I've learned by my experience
that the blessings of the Lord have come upon me for thy sake. Have you learned that? So many folks think, well, you
know, if I do this and I do that and I avoid this and avoid that,
then I'll have the blessing of God. And so they go about trying
to earn God's blessing. You're not going to earn God's
blessing if I have found grace in thy sight. If I have found
grace in thy sight. For Christ's sake, Lord, bless
me. Bless me with love and acceptance. Bless me with your presence. Turn me. Turn me, Lord, and I
shall be turned. Genesis chapter 39, you don't
have to turn there, but the same thing happens with Joseph when
he's sold into slavery in Egypt and he becomes Potiphar's servant. And Potiphar makes this statement,
the Lord has blessed the Egyptians' house for Joseph's sake. And you remember Potiphar gave
him rain over his whole house, everything but his wife, and
what trouble that caused him. And then God blessed Egypt for
Joseph's sake, didn't he? Now, God's going to bless you
and me for Christ's sake. That's it. He's not going to
reward us with a blessing because of something that we've done.
If I have found grace in thy sight, tarry here. For I have learned by experience
that the blessings of the Lord are for your sake. But you know
what else is true about this? The only reason that the fire
of God's wrath has not fell from heaven and consumed this earth
The only reason why the horrors of last Saturday night don't
happen in your neighborhood and my neighborhood every night of
the week is because you're there. We have peace in this land and
they don't even know it. The rain falls on the just and
the unjust. But the only reason the unjust
are able to enjoy the rain is because they live next to the
just. All the blessings that this world
enjoys are coming upon this world because of the believers. And
the evidence of that is that when God calls his last elect
home. It's over. It's over. When the last of God's lost sheep
is found, when the last one hears the gospel and comes to faith
in Christ, it's over. And why does God restrain the
evil of man? for our sake. That's it. O Lord, I pray Thee, if I have
found favor in Thy sight, if I have found grace in Thy sight,
tarry, tarry. The world ought to be saying
to us what Laban said to Jacob. They're not going to, but they
ought to. that people on your job ought
to be saying to you, oh, don't leave here. Don't leave here. The blessings that we're enjoying
are because you're here. But they can't see it, can they?
Can you see it? Have you learned by experience
that this is true? Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
65. Isaiah 65. Look at verse 8. Thus saith the
Lord. I love that. I'd love to be able
to stand and say, thus saith the Lord. And to know that God's people,
they don't add a but to that. They're just glad to hear that
that's what God says. Thus saith the Lord, as the new
wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, destroy it not,
for a blessing is in it, so will I do for my servant's sake that
I may not destroy them all. Don't destroy the vine. Don't
destroy the cluster of grapes. There's a blessing in that cluster.
And in this world, you're the blessing to your unbelieving
friends and family members, and they don't even know it. And
to you, he's the blessing in the cluster. Or the destruction
of God's wrath would come against us. We're found in him. And he said, I'm not going to
destroy the cluster. There's a blessing in there. Oh Lord, if I found grace in
thy sight. Terry, don't leave me. Don't
you love what Moses said when he said, Lord, if you don't go
with us, don't let us leave this spot. I pray that every time
I get in this pulpit. Lord, if you're not going to
enable me to preach, don't let me get up. Just, Lord, go with us. Go with us. Don't leave us to
ourselves. The worst thing that God can
do to a man is leave him to himself. You know that, don't you? You've
learned that by experience too, haven't you? You know by your
own experience that you are your own worst enemy, don't you? You
know that. You know it's not him and her
and them and them. It's you. We've met the enemy,
and it's us! Lord, that's my experience. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
one. Ephesians chapter one. Blessed, verse three, blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies, in Christ. That's where all the blessings
are. Oh Lord, if I found grace in thy sight, Terry, let me be
found in him. He's the one who ever lives to
make intercession for me. And all the promises of God are
yea and amen in him. And all the blessings of God
are only for his sake. I've learned that by experience.
God's taught me that. Has he taught you that? Laban
had 14 years at least of experience of seeing the blessings of God
for Jacob's sake. Things had gotten a whole lot
better after Jacob showed up. And Laban knew that God had been
merciful to him because of Jacob. Do you know that? That the mercy and the grace
and the kindness and the love and the acceptance and all the
blessings of God, all the blessings of God are in Christ in the heavenly
places. Look at the rest. According,
here's the blessing. Now, all of us want to be healthy and wealthy. But that's not the blessing. That's not the blessing. You
hear people say, oh boy, God's really blessed him, look what
he's got. Or he's got good health, look what he's got. Anything that causes you to have
less need for Christ is not a blessing. It's not a blessing. Anything. Lord, if you bless
me with material wealth, give me a heart of gratitude for these
things and cause me to be generous and giving and don't let me latch
on to them as my life. Lord, if you give me good health,
give me the grace to be grateful every day for it and to use it
however I can for your glory. Don't let me be presumptuous.
David said, forgive me for my presumptuous sins. We're so presumptuous,
aren't we? Sometimes the greatest blessings
of God come through the worst circumstances, the worst sicknesses, the worst trials. That's what Paul said in 2 Corinthians
chapter 12 when he said that I've got a thorn in my flesh,
a messenger of Satan that God has sent to me. And I asked the
Lord three times to take it away. Lord, this is not a blessing,
this is a curse. Take it away, it's holding me
back, whatever it was. Paul thought it was a curse.
And he asked God three times, take it away, and what'd the
Lord say? My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is
made perfect in your weakness. And Paul said, I will therefore
glory in my infirmities, in these necessities, knowing that when
I am weak, then I'm strong. Now, where was the blessing?
The blessing was in the thorn. thorn in his flesh was his blessing. Why? Because it caused him to
depend upon Christ for grace. I don't think the blessings are
just health, wealth and prosperity and all these things. No. According as he has chosen us
in him. There's a blessing. There's a
blessing that God did the choosing. You did not choose me, I chose
you. According as he has chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world, before you were
ever made, God blessed you. Before your parents ever dreamed
of you, before they were born, before Adam was created from
the dust of the earth, God blessed you in Christ, in the heavenlies.
He put you in the covenant of grace. He chose you in Christ
Jesus before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless
before Him in love. That's a blessing. What do you
have to do with that? Nothing. Nothing. Did you earn it? Did you deserve
it? Did you work for it? Did God
reward you for it? No, it happened before the world
was made, before time came into being. Having predestinated us
unto adoption of children. There's a blessing. We have some adopted children
in our fellowship. What a blessing for those children. You know, they don't fully appreciate
it, do they? Can you just imagine the difference
between little Rachel and Rebecca and the other little Chinese
girls that were in that same orphanage with them 17 years ago? What a difference. He's adopted us. He's made us
part of His family. What a blessing. Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto Himself, no blessing
comes from God without coming by Jesus Christ. God's not going
to bless you outside of Christ. All blessings are in Christ in
the heavenlies according to His good pleasure or the good pleasure
of His will to the praise of the glory of His grace. He gets all the praise. Why? Because He gave all the blessings. He put it on my heart to cry
out for blessings. He caused me to see that I need
his presence, just like Laban saw that he needed Jacob's presence.
And he caused me to understand that it's all of grace. And Lord,
all the blessings that I have, I've learned by experience, that
they've come upon me for Christ's sake. First Corinthians 1015, the cup
of blessing which we bless, is it not the cup of communion?
That's what he says. Second Corinthians 1015, the
cup of blessing which we bless. He's talking about the Lord's
table. Is it not the cup of communion? What is he saying? This blessing
is by virtue of our union with Christ. So that when He died
on Calvary's cross, I was crucified in Him and I died. Nevertheless,
I live. Yet it's not I, but it's Christ
that liveth in me. The life that I now live, I live
by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and died for me.
I was offered up. My offenses were placed upon
Him. When He died, I died. It's the cup of communion. And the bread? Is it not the
bread of communion? Is it not the blessing of His
life being our life? His life is our life before God. What a blessing! Blessed are they whose iniquities
are forgiven, whose sin are covered, blessed is the man whom the Lord
does not impute sin." Now that's a blessing. How am I going to
get that blessing? How am I going to get the blessing?
How am I going to be blessed by God that He doesn't charge
me with my sin? Only if He charged my sin substitute. Only if Christ bore all my sins
in His body upon that tree and God's justice was satisfied when
the Lord Jesus Christ bowed His mighty head and said, It is finished. It's finished. God's satisfied. Sin's been put away. What a blessing. Blessed and holy is he that hath
part in the first resurrection, on such the second death hath
no power. Blessed and holy is he that hath
part in the first resurrection, for the second death hath no
power. If you die twice, If you're born once, if you're
born once, you're gonna die twice. If you're only born physically,
then you're gonna die physically, and then the second death, you're
gonna die spiritually, separated from God for all eternity. If
you're born twice, you only die once. We have hope. in the resurrection
of Christ. We took part in that first resurrection
so that the second death has no power. We're not to fear death. When the body dies, this corruptible
will be made incorruptible. This mortal will be made immortal.
We'll see him as he is and be made like him. We don't have
to worry about second death. Don't have to worry about judgment.
Don't have to worry about wrath. That's all been taken care of. Chastening doesn't seem like
a blessing at the time, does it? No chastening for the present
seemeth joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterwards, it
yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them who
are exercised thereby. And if we're not chastened, we're
not a child of God. Chasing is a blessing. It's a blessing. What about persecution? Blessed are you. when men shall
revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against
you, for my sake, rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great
is your reward which is in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets
which were before you. Blessed are you of God. You stand
for the gospel. Well, we looked at that Sunday,
didn't we? All that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
persecution. David said in Psalm 34 verse
8, oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the
man that trusts in him. And I close with our text. I pray thee, if I have found
grace in thy sight, Terry, For I have learned by experience
that the Lord has blessed me for your sake." Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful. We're thankful that we have one
to stand in our stead that you are perfectly pleased with. one in whom we have all our blessings. We ask, Lord, that you would
give us the spirit of Laban, that we would cry out to find
grace and to know that all of your blessings come to us for
Christ's sake. For it's in his name we ask it. Amen. 272, let's stand together, 272. Hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. When darkness veil His lovely
face, I rest on His unchanging grace. Every high and stormy
gale My anchor holds within the veil On Christ the solid rock
I stand All other ground is sinking sand All other ground is sinking
sand So this covenant is blood, Support me in the dwelling flood. All around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay. On Christ a solid rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand. ? And he shall come with trumpet
sound ? ? Oh may I then in him be found ? ? Dressed in his righteousness
alone ? ? Faultless to stand before the throne ? ? On Christ
the solid rock I stand ? ? All other ground is sinking sand
? Mother ground is sinking sand. and a future joined by the century.