Nice, steady down for you. Okay. We'll have to wait for more of
them, I think. M number 32, the first, second, and fourth stanzas. All praise to him who reigns
above in majesty supreme. Who gave his son for man to die
that he might man redeem. Blessed be the name, blessed
be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name,
blessed be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord. His name above all names shall
stand, Exalted more and more. At God the Father's right hand,
Where angels host adore, Blessed be the name, blessed be the name,
blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name, blessed
be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord. His name shall be
the Counselor, the mighty Prince of Peace, of all earth's kingdoms
conqueror, whose reign shall never cease. ? Blessed be the name ? ? Blessed
be the name ? ? Blessed be the name of the Lord ? ? Blessed
be the name ? ? Blessed be the name ? ? Blessed be the name
of the Lord ? Hymn number 27. They sing the mighty power of
God that made the mountains rise. that spread the flowing seas
abroad and built the lofty skies. I sing the wisdom that ordained
the sun to rule the day. The moon shines full at His command,
and all the stars obey. I sing the goodness of the Lord,
that He will fill the earth with food. He formed the creatures
with his word, and then pronounced them. There are displayed where'er
I turn my eye. If I survey the ground, I tread
or gaze upon the sky. There's not a plant or flower
but may thy glories known. And clouds arise, and tempests
blow by o'er my throne, while all that And everywhere that man can be,
Thou, God, art present there. Turn with me to Psalms 103. Psalms 103. I'd like to read
22 verses. The word LORD is written several
times in these 22 verses. It's capital L-O-R-D, Jehovah,
Father, Son, and Spirit. Verse one. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the
Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Who forgeteth
all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases. I'm gonna read
verse four and then I'm gonna make a comment on verse four.
who redeemeth thy life from destruction, who crowneth thee with loving
kindness and tender mercies. The Lord redeemed us with his
shed blood on the cross and paid our sin debt, a debt that we
cannot pay. He paid and him alone. Reading
on to verse five now. who satisfy thy mouth with good
things, so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles. The Lord executeth righteousness
and judgment for all that are oppressed. He made known his
ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel. I'm gonna
read eight and make a comment on eight. It says, the Lord is
merciful and gracious. slow to anger, and plenteous
in mercy. Ask the Lord to save you, God
keep and teach you his ways. Verse number nine. He will not
always chide, neither will he keep his anger forever. He hath
not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to
our iniquities. I'm gonna read 11 and comment
on it. Whereas the heaven is high above the earth, so great
is his mercy toward them that fear him. I said, fear the Lord
with the fear of respect and love, knowing he is almighty
God, all knowing and all seeing. Verse number 12. As far as the
east is from the west, so far hath he renewed our transgressions
from us. Like as a father pitieth his
children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth
our frame, he remembereth that we are dust. As for man, his
days are as grass, as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it,
and it is gone, and the place thereof shall know it no more.
But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's
children. I'm gonna read 18 and make a
comment. Verse 18. To such as keep his
covenant, and to those that remember His commandments to do them.
Ask the Lord to put in your mind to do His will, remembering to
pray for those who are sick, who are lost. Pray for each other. Pray for the preacher. Those
that read and pray, ask the Lord to bless His word to us. Verse
19. The Lord hath prepared his throne
in the heavens, and his kingdom ruleth over all. Bless the Lord,
ye his angels that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening
unto the voice of his word. Bless ye the Lord, all ye his
hosts, ye ministers of his that do his pleasure. Bless the Lord,
all his works in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord,
O my soul. Let's seek the Lord in prayer. Merciful Father, I thank you
for this time and this night that you bring us together. Father,
help us to come to you in a way of being diligent, very thankful,
praising you for everything, and thanking you. Guide, keep,
teach, watch over us, and never leave us to ourself. I want to
pray for Marvin as he comes up to preach. Help him with the
word. I pray for all the men that you
chose all over the world. Help those men get your message. I ask this prayer in your name
and the name of the Lord God, amen. I was thinking as Mother Bear
was reading God's word, what a blessing that we can be here. I wonder how many times, Mitch,
I've stood in this pulpit and I said, I thank God for this
day. I thank the Lord for this opportunity.
I said, how many times have you heard me say this could be the
last time? we ever meet together. I've said that a bunch of times.
But you know, when the Lord allows you to experience something of
your frailty, it teaches you something. There's nothing like
God teaching. The Lord teaches his people. And for that, I am so thankful.
I'm so glad to be with you, be together, that we might be able
to worship the Lord together. I want you to take your Bibles
and turn with me to the book of Proverbs, Proverbs chapter
29. I hadn't been in Proverbs now in a couple of months, and
I want to take Proverbs 29. I'd like to look at the next
to the last verse of scripture, verse 26. Proverbs 29, verse 26. The Spirit of God moved upon
Solomon to write these words. Many seek the ruler's favor,
but every man's judgment cometh from the Lord. Now, the Lord
was pleased to remind us once again concerning the heart, the
thought, the way of thinking of the masses that are left to
themselves. Here's what God says concerning
the masses. Many seek the ruler's favor. Actually, I looked in my Bible
and it had a part written in there and it says this. Many
seek the face of a ruler. What does the Lord mean by that?
Man, by nature, desires to be in the company He wants to be
in the place where authority is being set forth. Man by nature wants the God of
his mind, the God of his heart. Man wants the God of man's imagination. He wants his acceptance. the God of his imagination. He
wants his approval. And he wants to have the privilege
to be able to ask favors of the God of his imagination. He wants
to have that intimate relationship with him. Oh yeah, oh yeah, I
know, I know God. I mean, you look and watch folks,
television, these televangelists and all these, they want to be
able to set forth that they know God intimately. But the problem with this is
that man by nature wants a God that's going to be at his beck
and call, a God that he can manipulate, a God that he can please. He wants a God that he can have
intimate talks with a God that understands him, understands
his frailties. You know, well, I'm just a sinner,
but God understands. He wants that kind of closeness. But because of this depraved
thinking, Satan is ever ready to give carnal
man what carnal man wants. Have you ever wondered why there's
so many different denominations? I mean, just think about how
many different ways is being set forth by man for men to be
saved. I can just, you know, quote a
few, you know, words, give the God of my imagination, my heart,
and that's it. It's settled. I can speak in
an unknown tongue. I can be baptized. I can get
in the water. And water, men tell me, some do, that water
saves me. So I mean, if that's all it's
gonna take, I can satisfy a God like that. I can do that. I can
do whatever the God of my imagination wants. And I can tell you this,
we've read this passage before. I want you to turn with me to
Revelation 12, 13 to 17. Revelation 12, we've read this
before. And this proves what I'm saying. Revelation chapter 12. Revelation
12, verse 13. When the dragon saw that she,
that is the church, the bride, the beloved of God, when she
was cast onto the earth, he persecuted the woman, brought forth the
man-child, and to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle
that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place where she is nourished
for a time and time half time from the face of the serpent.
And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after
the woman. Now there's that deceitfulness
of false religion. It's like water. She just, he
cast out of his mouth a flood that she might be carried away
of the flood. And the earth helped the woman. The earth opened her mouth and
swallowed up the flood, which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the woman was wroth with
the woman. And the dragon was wroth with
the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed,
which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of
Jesus Christ." Now, here's what, here's what This is man, this
is what our scripture says. Many seek, back in Proverbs 29,
29-26, many seek the ruler, or actually you might have it in
your Bible too, a ruler's favor. Every man by nature wants to
have a ruler's favor, but a ruler that he can control. Ruler that
understands him, understands his frailties, understands he's
just a good old boy. He didn't mean to do it. One
that he can just deal with. One that he can fellowship with. See, Colonel Mann, he's not opposed
to religion. Mann is not opposed to going
to church. He's not opposed to being religious. He's not opposed to having a
little G God. No, what he's opposed to is he's
opposed to having to stand before or answer to the God who rules
in heaven and earth. Man by nature hates the God that
rules. He hates God. Man in his fallen
state is opposed to God's sovereignty. Man doesn't mind, like I said,
he doesn't mind being religious. He'll be religious, but he hates
the God that is ruling in this world. Now here's the reason
that men have no fear of the God that they serve. They can
handle Him. But you take the God that is
going to put a man in hell, for disobedience, the God that has
the right and the power to do as he will, and man by nature
doesn't want to deal with him. They don't believe that God,
that there is a God in heaven that's going to justly deal with
sin. Let me ask you something. Many
of you here may be like me. I grew up in false religion. And when I say false religion,
that means the religion that makes me God. It makes me the
boss. It makes me make the final decision. That's what I'm talking about
when I say false religion. Man, in his false religion, he
does not want to deal with God. Because the God that this Bible
proclaims is the God that will put men and women in hell for
disobedience. It's the God that will deal with
sin in absolute justice. They don't believe that God is
God Almighty. They don't believe that He's
the true and living God. They won't bow by nature to a
God like that. But, but, back in Proverbs, But every man's judgment cometh
from the Lord. Many seek thee or a ruler's favor. Many want to have a little G-God
that they can deal with. But every man's judgment, that
is to say the basis of absolute litigation of the case. Every
man, every woman is going to have to deal with God in absolute
justice. That which is absolutely right,
the foundation of every man's final and eternal destiny is
going to be determined by God's Word. The determination of man's
guilt or his innocence before God is according to God's Word. Every man's judgment, that litigation,
that rule, that standard by which every man is going to stand before
God and answer. If I have to stand before God
on the best I can do, I'm done. I'm gone, Don. I don't have any
hope because I cannot please God of myself. I can't do it.
Every man, many seek a ruler's favor. Every man by nature wants
to have a God that is pleased with him. When I was in false religion,
I didn't want to say that I had a God that was mad at me. I wanted
my God to be pleased with me. And so I was doing everything
I knew to do to please Him. But that's not the standard.
Every man's judgment, the basis of every man's standing before
God is going to be based upon God's word. Every man's judgment,
every man's litigation cometh from the Lord. That means that
every man's standing before God is established according to God's
will and God's word and God's purpose. I want you to turn with me to
1 John, 1 John 5. 1 John chapter 5. 1 John 5, I'd like to read verses
11 and 12. 1 John 5. Here's what scripture says. I'm gonna start in verse five. Who is he that overcometh the
world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ. Not by water only, but by water
and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth
witness, because the Spirit is truth. There's three that beareth,
There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word,
and the Holy Ghost. These three are one. Now, verse 9 says, If we receive
the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. For this is
the witness of God, which He hath testified of His Son. that
believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that
believeth not God hath made him a liar, even because he believeth
not the record that God gave of his Son. Now, this is the
record. Here's the record. This is the
record that God hath given us eternal life, and this life is
in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. Now, 1 John 5, 11 and 12 sets
forth this. This is the record. Here's the
record. Here's the standard. Here's the
foundation. Scripture says that that man
by nature has set himself a record, set himself a standard, but here's
the record. God hath given to us. You know God has not offered
to us eternal life. He's not promised based upon
our ability eternal life. This is the record. Man's got
opinions, got many, many other witnesses of false religion,
but this is the record that God has given to us eternal life,
and this life is in His Son. Life eternal is not in man's
choice. Life eternal is not in man's decision. It's not in man's
will. This is the record, life eternal.
This is the life that is given, and it's given in the Son. He that hath the Son, in whom
all of God's elect were chosen before the foundation of the
world, he that hath the Son hath life. He that has the One who
laid down his life expressly for the people of God, God's
choosing, God's elect, The Son whose righteousness robes every
believer. He that hath the Son. This is the record. He that hath
the Son. How did he get the Son? God gave
him. God so loved the world that he gave. He's the only big God. He that hath the Son of God,
by faith, hath life. The gift of God. He that hath
not the Son. That son that is given by God
hath not life. This is a record. There's many
witnesses. There's many witnesses in this
world. But there's one truth. That one truth, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He that hath the witness of God,
the Son of God, hath life. I pray that God Almighty bless
it to our hearts for Christ's sake.