in the first hour that we don't
really understand anything we believe. And there's a passage
of scripture in the Song of Solomon that, for me, illustrates that truth more than
anything. If you'll turn with me in your
Bibles to Song of Solomon, chapter 4, this is a song of Solomon chapter
4 beginning at verse 8 the Lord Jesus Christ is using this this
analogy this metaphor of a garden to describe his church so beginning
in verse 8 Christ is speaking about us about us, about you,
and about me, if you're a believer, about what we're doing right
here, right now, and I don't understand it. There's no way
I can enter into this passage of Scripture and say, well, yeah,
that's me, that's us. But what a glorious thing it
is to believe it because God said it. to believe that this
is how he sees us? Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, us, that we of all people should
be called the children of God, and now he describes his bride
in such affectionate, beautiful, glorious language. He's talking
about us. I don't understand it. I don't
understand how God could see me this way. But He does. He wouldn't have said it otherwise.
And it is the love of Christ that leadeth us to repentance.
And it's the love of Christ that constraineth us. It's the love
of Christ. It's this kind of affection that
God would have for me and for you that cause us to flee to
the throne of grace Come with me from Lebanon, verse
8, Song of Solomon, chapter 4. My spouse, with me from Lebanon. Look from the top of Amenah,
from the top of Shinar, from the top of Hermon, and from the
lion's den, and from the mountains of the leopards, all wherever
you are. These are all mountains in Palestine.
Wherever, look from there. Thou, now Christ is speaking
of you and me. You have ravished my heart? The only understanding I have
of that is that the faith that we have is faith that God's given
us. And the worship that we engage
in and the praise that we express is that which He's put into our
hearts. And what He gives us, He's pleased with. He rejoices
in it. Thou hast ravished my heart,
my sister, my spouse. Thou hast ravished my heart with
one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. that the Lord Jesus
Christ would speak in such language as being ravished when we look
to Him in faith and worship Him in spirit and in truth. He is. He wouldn't have said
it if it wasn't true. What greater motivation is there
for us to worship Him? than to know that he's so pleased
with it. Let's stand together. Bert's
going to come lead us in the hymn on the back of your bulletin. Let's continue reading our Lord's
words about us. Verse 10. Song of Solomon, Chapter 4. How
fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! How much better is
thy love than wine, and the smell of thy anointments than all spices. Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as
the honey come. Honey and milk are under thy
tongue, and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of
Lebanon, a garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse, a spring
shut up, a fountain sealed. My plants are as an orchard of
pomegranates with pleasant fruits, camphor with spikenard, spikenard
and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all the trees of frankincense,
myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices. These are the These
are the things that we say and believe about the Lord Jesus
Christ that He has revealed to us. This is the fruit of our
lips. This is our worship and praise
and He is so pleased with it. Why? Because nobody else is doing
it. Nobody else is doing it. He's
created everybody else, but they're just going along their way as
if there was no God. There's no fear of God in their
hearts. A fountain of gardens, a well
of living waters, and streams from Lebanon. Awake, O north
wind, and come thou south. Blow upon my garden. And here's
the Lord calling upon the Spirit of God. blow the wind of grace
on His garden, that the spices that He has put in our hearts
might be perfumed to His glory." That's what He's praying for. The spices may flow out, and
here's what we say. Oh, let my beloved come into
his garden and eat his pleasant fruits. I am coming to my garden,
my sister, my spouse. I have gathered my myrrh with
my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb with
my honey. I have drank my wine with my
milk. Eat, oh friends, eat. Oh, the bread of life. labor
not for that meat which perisheth, but that meat that leadeth to
everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto thee."
My body is your meat indeed. The life of the Lord Jesus Christ
is our life. This is where He reveals Himself. This is where He feeds His children
in His garden. Yeah, drink abundantly. Oh, you're
not going to diminish the grace of God. You're not going to lessen
it. You're not going to frustrate
it. Say, well, I, I, you know, I, I've just come so many times. I've asked the Lord to forgive
me so many times and oh no, drink abundantly. It's a well of living
water. There's no end to it. There's
no end to it. If you're thirsty, drink. He
made you thirsty, and He provides the drink. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we're left speechless. We're left overwhelmed. We're left without any understanding. We gather up the thoughts, Lord,
they are more than can be numbered. how it is that you could speak
in such affectionate, in such glowing, in such loving terms
towards sinners like us. But oh, how thankful we are that
you have. How thankful we are that you've
given us your word to assure us that in spite of us, you love
us so. Lord, we pray that that you would
warm our hearts with that grace and with that love and enable
us to have the spices of your grace
blown to your glory. By your Spirit, we ask it in
Christ's name. Amen. Will you turn with me in your
Bibles to Psalm 37. Psalm 37. We looked at this Psalm Wednesday
night and made it through the first seven verses. And so this
is part two. Mark the perfect man. Mark the perfect man. If you look in verse 37 of Psalm
37, that's an easy reference for you to remember. Psalm 37,
37. That's a phrase that is worthy
of all acceptation. And it's true and something that
will be of comfort and encouragement to your heart as the Spirit of
God brings it to mind and enables you to believe it. Mark the perfect
man and uphold the upright for the end of that man is peace. The end of that man is peace. Do you need peace? I know you do. I know you need
more than anything else to have peace with God. You need to be
able to stand in the presence of God and have acceptance with
Him. And as a sinner, the only way
that that's gonna happen is if God gives you the grace to mark
the perfect man. To mark the perfect man. I know you need, as I do, the
peace of God. I want the peace of God. In the
midst of whatever trials or circumstances He's ordained for me, I need
the peace of God. And that's only going to come
if God gives us the grace to mark the perfect man. God requires perfect. Don't miss
that. God demands and requires perfect. And when He speaks of perfect,
He's not speaking of a standard that we have set. He's speaking
of a standard that He has set, that He Himself is that standard. And that's all He can have fellowship
with, is that which measures up to the same degree of perfection
that He is. Never does God say, do your best
and I'll be satisfied. Now I'm not in any way suggesting
that you ought not to do your best. We're to do what we do
with all of our hearts unto the Lord. We're to do it not as man-pleasers
but as God-pleasers. You ought to do your best in
everything you do. It's not going to earn you favor
with God. It's not going to establish your
righteousness with God, for God requires perfect obedience. Perfect obedience. There's only one that ever did
that. There's only one that can stand
the spotlight of God's law and be found innocent. And that's none other than the
perfect man. And God says, mark him. Mark
him. There's only one that's righteous.
We have no righteousness apart from Him. Righteousness is not
something that is to be found in degrees. Righteousness is
a standard of holiness that God has established. It's what He
calls right. And He's the only one that ever
did it. Our righteousnesses are as filthy rags before God. He
is our righteousness. God requires perfect sacrifice.
He requires a perfect sacrifice. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only one that offered a sacrifice that was pleasing to God. God
said, I'm satisfied. I'm satisfied. The sacrifice
that the Lord Jesus Christ made of himself on Calvary's cross
satisfied God because it was a perfect sacrifice. It was a
sacrifice of the sinless Son of God who bore not his sin but
our sins in his body and made of himself a sacrifice for sins
before God. No amount of sacrifice that you
and I make. That's what man-made religion is all about. Well,
if you just sacrifice a little bit more, God will be pleased
with you. You know, just pray a little bit more. Well, you
ought to pray more. I ought to pray more. You know, study your Bible
more. Well, I ought to. I need to. You do too. Well, you're not
going to achieve righteousness with God. You're not going to
find acceptance before Him based on your sacrifice. I just need
to do more. Maybe you do, I don't know. God requires a perfect sacrifice
and there's only one man that ever did that. Mark him. Worship? I so look forward to the times
when we get to come together here. I look forward to Wednesday
night. I look forward to worshipping
with the Brethren in Sarasota every Sunday night. I look forward
to being with you on Sunday morning. It truly is a highlight of my
week and I know it is for you as well. I'm so thankful for
that. And yet I can't stand here and
talk about Christ without sin. Our worship, we've been here,
we've been here for an hour a little over
an hour how how how much in other words I worship it is the Lord
said he were he he seeks after those who worship him in spirit
and in truth and how how mixed our worship is God requires perfect
worship perfect worship the Lord Jesus Christ is the only one
that ever worshiped the father perfectly. His worship is that
which is acceptable and pleasing to God. Mark, the perfect man. Faith? I'm so thankful that the
Lord causes His people to be able to say with those blind
men that we just read about, Yea, Lord. Yes, I do believe
that thou art able. Lord, have mercy upon me. And
yet our faith is so mixed with unbelief we cry with the man
I believe, help thou mine unbelief." Lord, my faith is so small and
so weak and so feeble and so fickle, it's up and down. I'm so thankful that I can be
found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is by the
law, but that righteousness which is by the faith of Jesus Christ. Our faith is the result of our
salvation. His faith is the cause of our
salvation. Don't miss that. God requires perfect faith. The
Lord Jesus Christ, the only man that ever had that, that's why
he said, mark the perfect man. Mark him. Wisdom. The Lord's given us some
understanding. I'm so thankful that He's opened
the eyes of our understanding and He's caused us to be able
to believe and to see some things that we weren't able to see before.
But our sight is so... well, we look through a glass
stemling, don't we? It's distorted. We don't see
anything clearly as it is, but He does. He is the personification
of wisdom. God has made Him to be for us
our wisdom. The Lord Jesus Christ sees all
things clearly, perfectly, without any distortion, without any confusion,
without any doubt. He sees it all. Mark the perfect
man. God requires perfect wisdom.
Mark Him. Holiness, He's made us to be
holy, so that He that does the sanctifying, that's the Lord
Himself, and those that are sanctified are all as one. He's made us
to be holy before God, but our holiness is only by imputation. It's only by virtue of our union
with the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the perfect man. He's the
holy man. our thoughts, our motives, our
speech. We delight in being able to meditate
on Him and think of Him, set our affections on Him. We rejoice
in being able to speak about Him. But our speech is not perfect,
our thoughts are not perfect, and our motives are never perfect. You start looking at why you
do what you do and you're going to find mixed motives in everything
you do if you're honest with yourself. So if God sees the heart and
he sees why we do everything we do, and he's only pleased
with that which is perfect, how are we going to find acceptance
before God? By marking the perfect man. Mark him. pilot, after having taken the Lord and flogged Him,
and plaited Him with a crown of thorns, and put that robe
on Him, and brought Him before the crowd, that bloodthirsty
crowd, in hopes that this might satisfy them, to which they cried,
crucify him, crucify him, we're not satisfied with what you've
done. Pilate said to the crowd, behold the man, mark the man, take notice of
the man, all that the Lord would enable us to behold the man,
to mark him, to see that it was His sacrifice that was perfect
and pleasing before God, that it was His obedience, it was
His faith, it's His righteousness, it's His wisdom, it's His holiness
that God is pleased with. Paul put it like this in Colossians
chapter 3, he said, set your affections on things above where
Christ is seated at the right hand of God. looking unto Jesus,
he said later in Hebrews, the author and the finisher of your
faith, the Alpha and the Omega. Mark the man. Wait on Him. Look to Him for everything. Rest
in Him. Flee to Him. Obey His voice. Believe His Word. And what's
the latter part of this verse say? For the end of that man
is peace. The end of that man is peace. Now that's what we need. That's
what we need. We need peace with God. Now I
know that the unbeliever thinks they've already got peace with
God, but it's only because they've not been made a sinner. If God's made you to be a sinner,
Then you know apart from marking the perfect man, you have no
hope of having peace with God. The natural man thinks, well,
it will be like David Thoreau's final words on his deathbed when
they ask him, Mr. Thoreau, have you made your peace
with God? And his final words were, I did not know that we
had ever quarreled. And he died. And that's where
most people are. They think, well, God loves me. He's not going to send me to
hell. Most people's view of God is that he's some sort of doting
grandfather that just doles out to his children every whim of
their desire. No. God's made you to be a sinner. You know you need to mark the
man if you're going to have peace with the Holy God. But at the end of this man is
peace. It is peace. God makes us to be sinners in
order that he can forgive us of our sin. There's no forgiveness
apart from being made a sinner. He causes us to be dead in order
that we could be made alive. He causes us to have no hope
in ourselves in order that we can mark the perfect man. Isaiah put it like this in Isaiah
chapter 26 verse 3, Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose
mind is stayed on Thee because He trusteth in Thee. He trusteth
in Thee. He trusts Thee for Thy perfection,
for Thy righteousness, for Thy for thy sacrifice, thy faith,
thy wisdom, everything, Lord, I've got no place else to go."
Mark, the perfect man, for the end of that man is peace. Peace
with God. Peace with God. And the peace
of God. Paul said in Philippians chapter
4, rejoice in the Lord that's just another way of saying mark
the perfect man set your affections on him look to Christ rejoice
in the Lord always and again I say rejoice rejoice at just
in case you know you your circumstances are such that you think you don't
have reason to rejoice the Lord repeats himself doesn't he says
always and again I say rejoice rejoicing Christ Rest in Christ. Look to Christ. Mark the perfect
man. He goes on to say, let your moderation
be known unto all men. Why? Because the Lord is at hand.
In other words, you have no reason to be an extreme person, whether
it be in depression or whether it be in exaltation. Why? Because
the Lord is at hand. He's got everything. Don't go
to extremes. Let your moderation be known
to all men. For the Lord is at hand. And
be careful or anxious for nothing. But in all things, by prayer
and supplication, with thanksgiving, Let your requests be known unto
God, and what the peace of God that passes human understanding
will keep your heart and your mind. Where? Where? Marking the perfect man in Christ
Jesus. That's where he keeps us. Thou wilt keep him in perfect
peace whose mind is stayed on thee. Trust in the Lord with
all thine heart. Lean not on an understanding
but in all thy ways. Acknowledge him. Mark him. Acknowledge him. And he promises
to lead our path. Now go back with me to the first
of this Psalm verse 1, fret not thyself
because of evil doers. All the fretting that we, we
fret when we fail to mark the perfect man. And we fret ourselves,
don't we? We bring worries on ourselves
because we're not looking to Christ. But that's what unbelief
does. for they shall verse 2 shall
soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb
trust in the Lord and do good all he that knoweth to do good
and doeth it not to him and his evils to him and to sin that
God would give us the grace to obey rather than to make sacrifice
the Lord Jesus Christ made the sacrifice that we might obey
trust in the Lord and do good so shall thou dwell in the land
That's where you'll be able to sit at peace in the garden and
have the wind of His Spirit blow the aroma of His grace from your
heart in worship to Christ. Delight thyself also in the Lord,
and He shall give you the desires of thine heart. Notice what comes
first. It's delighting yourself in the
Lord, which is just another way of saying mark the perfect man.
Find your peace and your hope in Christ. Look to Christ. Rest
in Him. Delight yourself in Him. Rejoice
in Him. Worship Him. Look to Him as all
of your acceptance and satisfaction before God. And if you're doing
that, God will give you desires that He will fulfill. He'll give
you desires that He will fulfill. Commit thy way unto the Lord.
Just another way of saying mark the perfect man. Commit everything
to Him. Trust Him for all your salvation. Trust also in Him and He shall
bring it to pass. He shall bring forth thy righteousness
as the light. You commit yourself to Him. As
the word commit doesn't mean you grit your teeth and pull
yourself up by your bootstraps and I'm going to be a better,
that's what religion is all about. I'm going to be a better person
this week. Boy, a preacher really stepped on my toes and I feel
really guilty about the way I am, but I'm committed now, I'm going
to be better. And when you live that way, you
just got worse, didn't you? I mean, you just never could.
No, mark the perfect man. Commit thy way to Him. In other
words, trust Him for everything. And what will happen? You'll
see that His righteousness is your righteousness. He'll bring
forth the righteousness of God. Men go about trying to establish
their own righteousness because in their ignorance they have
no knowledge of the righteousness of God. marking the perfect man and committing
our ways to Him, the Lord sheds the light of the Gospel on His
righteousness. And we begin to believe that
we are perfectly righteous, that yes, the Lord Jesus Christ could
speak of us with such affectionate, glowing, loving terms as He did
in the Song of Solomons. Why? Because He's given to us
His righteousness, and that's what He's looking at. He's looking
at what He's given us. And He's rejoicing in that. Rest in the Lord. Wait patiently
for Him. Fret not thyself because of Him
who prospers in the way, because of the man who bringeth wicked
devices to pass. Don't compare yourself to the
men of the world. Don't think, well, they've got something that
I need. You've got something they need. You've got something
they need. so much more than anything they've
got that you could profit from. Cease from anger and forsake
wrath. Fret not thyself in any wise
to do evil. Fret not thyself in any wise
to do evil. Fretting always results in evil
doing. Mark it down. Fear and fretting
unbelief and taking our eyes off the perfect man always results
in evil doing. Fretting leads to fixing things
by my own means. How many times you've learned
something, you've gotten a phone call, someone has said something
to you, and rather than marking the perfect man, Rather than
you asking God to give you wisdom on how to deal with that situation,
you jump right in the middle of it in order to try to fix
it and it just gets worse. It just gets worse. Why? Because you didn't mark the perfect
man. Your fretting resulted in evil
doing. That's what the Lord is saying.
Read it again. Cease from anger, forsake wrath, fret not thyself
in any wise to do evil. Be careful for nothing. Now I'm not suggesting that there
are situations that we don't get involved in. There may be
something that the Lord would have you to do in order to correct
some problems, whatever they might be. But you're not going
to know that until you mark the perfect man. You're not going
to know that until you ask him for his wisdom. Since you lack
wisdom, ask it of God. He'll give it to you liberally.
He upbraideth it not. He delights in giving his children
wisdom. But what do we do? We fret. We fret. And it always results
in evil doing. Mark the perfect man. Mark him. Look at verse 9. For evildoers
shall be cut off, but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall
inherit the earth. Blessed are they, blessed are
they that wait upon the Lord. What is it to wait upon the Lord?
It's to be meek. He speaks of being meek here.
What is meekness? I looked up that word in the
dictionary and they had these synonyms as a definition for
the word meek. Docile, indecisive, overly submissive,
compliant, spiritless, and weak. And generally that's what people
think about meekness, isn't it? Well, what does God say about
meekness? In Numbers chapter 12 verse 3, Moses was very meek
above all the men that were upon the face of the earth. Now do
you think that a docile, spiritless, compliant, submissive, indecisive
man could lead a million Israelites through the wilderness for 40
years in their rebellion against God? yet he's the meekest man that
ever lived up to that time because the Lord Jesus Christ himself
said take my yoke upon thee and learn of me for I am meek and
lowly spiritless indecisive weak is that what he was Galatians chapter 4, the scripture
speaks of meekness as one of the fruits of the Spirit of God. To be meek means to be free of
vanity. It means to be a willing and
obedient servant of God. It means to be humble and patient
in affliction. You see, the truth is that meekness
is not weakness. It is just the opposite. It is a strength that's given
to God's people by the Spirit of God. Very few know about it. A weak man, a weak man tries
to control his circumstances. He tries to be in charge. He's
offended when anyone questions his authority. He's arrogant
and intimidating. That's a weak man. A meek man
trusts God to be in control. He waits on God to open and close
doors. He's willing to take a back seat
and he has nothing to prove to other men. He's able to esteem
others more highly than himself without hypocrisy and without
intimidation. Why? Because God's made him meek. Let me tell you a picture of
meek. This word meek in the original language comes from the analogy
of taking a horse, a 1,500 pound horse, and having a 50 pound
child put a bit in its mouth and lead that horse. And that
horse becomes meek and submissive to that child. with the bit in
its mouth. Meekness is not weakness, meekness
is strength controlled by God. The meek, you see that in verse
11? The meek are just simply those
who mark the perfect man. And all their peace with God
and all the peace of God that they have in this life comes
from Him. That's meekness. Resting in Christ. Looking to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Relying upon Him. Having Him work in you, causing
you to will and to do His good pleasure. Having no need to prove
yourself to other men, or to take control of situations, but
rather to be meek before God, believing that the perfect man's
in control. Mark the perfect man. Verse 12, the wicked plotteth
against the just and gnasheth upon him with his teeth. The
unbeliever makes accusations against the meek. They think
that they're weak, but in fact they have all their hope and
trust in Christ, the perfect man, the one who is all their
righteousness before God. They hear what we believe and
they think, well, you're just not committed. You need to be,
you know, you need to be doing more, you need to be more dedicated,
you need to be involved in more religious programs, and you need
to be, oh, all my hope is in the perfect man. I've marked,
by the grace of God, I've marked the perfect man, the meekest
man, and he has made me to be meek in his presence. And my
peace is all wrapped up in him. He said, My peace I give unto
thee, not as the world gives. Not as the world gives. No, this
is a different kind of peace. This isn't peace that depends
on you getting all of your ducks in a row and controlling all
of your circumstances. This is a peace that comes from
the perfect man. This is a peace that comes directly
from God to your heart when God gives you the grace to mark the
perfect man. The Lord shall, verse 13, the
Lord shall laugh at him. Oh, the kings of the earth have
stood up against the perfect man. And He holds them in derision. He laughs at them. He's not the
least bit threatened by them. Why? Because He's got all the
power and all the strength in the world. All of it. All of it. He's the Almighty.
He's the mighty God. He's not threatened by anybody. The Lord shall laugh at them,
and he seeth that his day is coming. The wicked have drawn
out the sword. Look at verse 14. The sword is
always a picture of the tongue, or the words. Scripture speaks
of the Lord Jesus Christ in the book of Revelation. with a tongue
as a flaming sword and he's going to take his word and slay his
enemies with it. And here he says the wicked pull
out their sword. They pull out their sword. What
do they do? They make accusations against those who have marked
the perfect man. They make accusations against the perfect man. And
what's he saying? Like Saul, the wicked king, who
fell on his own sword in order to die, so they shall fall on
their own sword. Their words will come back against
them. That's what he says. Look at
verse 14. The wicked have drawn out their sword, and they bent
their bow to cast down the poor and the needy to slay, such as
be upright of conversation. Their sword shall enter into
their own heart, and their bow shall be broken." Don't be intimidated
by them. Don't be moved by them. Their
end shall come. If God doesn't have mercy upon
them, you just keep marking the perfect man. Just keep marking
the perfect man. Don't take your eyes off of him.
Let them say what they're going to say. Let the potsherds of
the earth contend with the potsherds of the earth. Let them make whatever
accusations they want to make. Their words will be used against
them. They will hear their own words
spoken back to them in judgment if God doesn't have mercy upon
them between now and then. And that day is coming sooner
than we think. Oh, that the Lord would just
impress us with the vanity of this world. How temporal it is. What does it profit a man if
he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? I think it
was Wednesday night, I quoted what, what's the guy's name that had
Apple? Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs' sister standing at
his bedside said that his last words, his last words were, oh
wow, oh wow, oh wow. Now I'm sure that his family
probably was comforted in thinking that he was looking into glory
and I don't know anything about Steve Jobs. I don't know where
his heart was. Perhaps he was. But if he was looking into the
pit of hell, and I believe that in the last moments of life God
does give, I've seen people die and I've watched them. It's an
awful thing. And I'm 56 years old. Yeah, he'd be saying, oh wow,
oh wow. Look at verse 16. A little
that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many
wicked. What does a prophet of man, if
he gains the whole world, lose his own soul? You know, we're
so bombarded with materialism, aren't we? You know, you just
got to have more if you're going to be at peace. No, if you're
going to be at peace, you got to mark the perfect man. That's
the only place to be at peace. Having more is not going to give
you peace. It's certainly not going to give you peace in that
moment of truth. When you draw your last breath and look into
eternity. For the arms of the wicked shall
be broken, but the Lord upholdeth the righteous. The Lord knoweth
the days of the upright, and their inheritance shall be forever.
They shall not be ashamed in the evil time, and in the days
of famine they shall be satisfied." Now he's talking about dying.
In that moment of truth, they're going to be satisfied. and in
the times of this life as they live in a dry and thirsty land
where as Amos said there's a famine in the land there's a famine
in the land not a famine of bread and water we got plenty of that
but a famine of hearing the Word of God notice that God said through
the prophet Amos there's not a famine of God's Word being
read it's not a famine of God's Word being spoken plenty of folks
doing that There's people right now, as we meet this morning,
that are meeting in buildings just like this, and much more
than this. And they're opening this book and reading from this
book. And they'll leave just as hungry as they came in. Why? Because the famine is not in
the reading, the famine is in the hearing. It's in the hearing. There's a famine in the land,
not a famine of bread and water, but a famine of hearing the Word
of God. They've not heard what it says.
They've not heard from who it speaks. The Lord Jesus Christ
has not made Himself known to them. He is the Word of God. He is the Word of God. He's the
perfect man. Oh, if God gives us the grace
to mark Him, to mark Him, we'll have peace, we'll be fed, We'll
be satisfied. We'll be righteous. We'll have
peace with God. We'll have the peace of God.
It's all from marking the perfect man. And the wicked can't do
that. But the wicked, verse 20, shall
perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs.
They shall consume, unto smoke shall they consume away." What
substance is there to smoke? If you're right in the middle
of it, maybe there's some substance to it that will take your breath
away. But what does smoke do? It dissipates. You can't find
it. It's just gone. And God says
that's the way it's going to be with the unbeliever. And the
wicked He's speaking of here is everyone that fails to mark
the perfect man. Everyone. For such as be blessed of him,
I'm sorry, Verse 21, the wicked borroweth and payeth not again,
but the righteous showeth mercy and giveth. Oh, the wicked are
just looking for what they can get. They borrow from God, borrow
from man, they've got nothing to pay back. But the righteous are always
on the giving end. How many times has the Lord said
it's more blessed to give than to receive? If you mark the perfect
man, you're just going to be a giver. You're just going to
be a giver. If you mark in the perfect man,
you're going to be like the perfect man, and that's all he ever did,
was just give and give and give. For such as be blessed of him
shall inherit the earth, and they that be cursed of him shall
be cut off. The meek shall inherit the earth. Not this earth! Oh no, this earth
is going to be destroyed, but a new heaven and a new earth
God is going to make. Wherein dwelleth righteousness. The only thing that is going
to be on this earth is God's righteousness and those that
He has made to be righteous. The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord. He delighteth in his way. Oh,
aren't you glad we read that passage in Song of Solomon? The
Lord delighting in His bride. You see, He orders our steps
and then He delights in our way. From Him, from Christ, the perfect
man, comes both prayer and answer to prayer. He's the one who sets it in our
hearts to pray and then He's the one who answers the prayer
that He gives us. He's the one who causes us to
see our sin and then He gives us repentance of sin. He's the one who creates a hunger
and thirst for righteousness in the heart and then He feeds
us with the bread of life and with the river of life. You see,
He does it all. He's got to create the need and
then solve the need all at the same time. He's the perfect man. He makes known our nakedness
and our shame, and then He clothes us with the robe of righteousness. We're like the king who had no
clothes, you know, just proudly parading ourselves, thinking
that we're dressed when we're naked. He's got to open our eyes
and make us realize that we don't have any clothes. And then He
clothes us. He makes the things of this world
to be bitter. And then He feeds us with the
sweet manna of His grace. He shows us our blindness and
then He opens the eyes of our understanding by shining the
light of the gospel in our hearts. He stops our mouths with His
holy law and makes us guilty before God and then He opens
them with the sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise. He does it all. He does it all. We don't bring
anything to the table of salvation. If we come to that table, it's
because He brought us there. Mark, the perfect man. The steps, verse 23, of a good
man are ordered by the Lord. Whatever Whatever prayer you've
ever prayed, He gave it to you to pray. Whatever sacrifice you
ever made, He gave it to you to sacrifice. Whatever faith
you ever had, He gave it to you to believe. Whatever view of
Him you've ever achieved, He shined the light. Whatever sin
you've ever seen and begged pardon for, He made it known to you. Verse 24, though he fall, oh,
and how often he does. Proverbs it says, righteous man
falleth seven times and gets up seven times. Seven is the
number of perfection. That's all we ever do in this
fall. That's all we ever do. And we're just perpetual backsliders,
as the prophet said. That's just what we do. We're
falling, falling, falling, falling. Why? Well, you can be sure every
time it's because we took our eyes off the perfect man. So,
marking the perfect man to whom coming is a continual act of
faith on the part of God's children. What does he say? Though he fall,
He shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth
him with his hand. My little children, I write these
things unto thee, that thou sinnest not. But if any man sin, he has
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous One,
the perfect man. Mark him. Mark him. God's pleased with him. He's
not pleased with you. He's not pleased with me. He's
pleased with Christ. and all those who are in Christ. I've been young. I can say with
David, I've been young, now I'm old. Yet, I've never, ever seen
the righteous forsaken. Never! I'll never leave thee
nor forsake thee. Delight yourself in me, I'll
give you the desires of your heart. I'll give you the desire
and then I'll fulfill the desire. Whatever desire you have that
unholy, God's not going to fulfill that. But you delight yourself
in Him. Never seen the righteous forsaken.
I've never seen their seed begging bread. God provides for His children. You wouldn't allow your children
to go out and beg, would you? No, you wouldn't do that. Why? Because you're responsible
for them. You provide for them. If you
being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how
much more shall your Heavenly Father give good gifts to them
who ask Him? You think you love your kids
more than He loves you? Never seen the righteous forsaken.
Never seen their seed begging bread. Mark the perfect man. Trust the Lord. He is ever merciful. and lendeth,
and his seed is blessed. Depart from evil and do good.
Dwell forevermore." You can't mark the perfect man and spit
in his face at the same time. You can't do it. You can't do it. You can't mark
the perfect man and disregard his will and shame him and live
in disobedience. You can't do it. They're mutually
exclusive. So when the Lord says mark the
perfect man, He said you mark him and he'll work in you causing
you to will and to do his good pleasure and you'll seek to honor
him. Oh, you're going to fall. You're
going to fall. And He's going to lift you up
again. And though you fall seven times, He's going to keep picking
you up. He's going to keep providing. Why? Because he never loses his
mercy. He delights in showing mercy.
He's ever merciful. The Lord loveth judgment. We'll
stop right there. The Lord loveth judgment. When were my sins judged by God? When were your sins judged by
God? He loveth judgment. He delights in the death of his
saints. When the Lord Jesus Christ bowed
his mighty head on Calvary's cross and gave up the ghost, God's people died in him. That's
why when we're baptized, we confess we're buried with Christ in baptism
and raised up to walk a new life in Christ Jesus. And that's when
God executed his wrath and his judgment against all the sins
of all of his people. God loveth judgment. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. And through that judgment, he
put away all the sins of all of his people once and for all
through the sacrifice of himself. Oh, mark the perfect man. Mark him for everything. Especially
for your acceptance before God. Your peace with God. And for
the end of that man is peace. Peace. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, We're thankful that the Lord
Jesus Christ is meek and lowly. We're thankful, Lord, that you
have restrained your strength and that you've demonstrated
to us your mercy and your grace. We're thankful that when Christ
was on the cross that you did not hold back any of your wrath
or fury, but you executed the fullness of your judgment against
him. Oh, Father. that thou wouldst send your spirit
and enable us from the heart to mark the perfect man in whom
we have all our peace with God. We pray it in his name. Amen. Brother Byrne, 87 in the soft
back tendril, let's stand together, number 87. We...