I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Psalms, chapter
81. Psalms 81. I'd like to read verses 7 to
10. I'm going to actually preach,
Lord willing, out of verse 10, but I'd like to read Psalm 81,
starting in verse 7. Thou call'st me... No, no, I'm
sorry. Thou call'st in trouble, and
I delivered thee. I answered thee in the secret
place of thunder. I proved thee at the waters of
Meribah, Silah. Hear, O my people, and I will
testify unto thee. O Israel, if thou wilt hearken
unto me, there shall no strange god be in thee, neither shalt
thou worship any strange god. I am the Lord thy God, which
brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth wide,
and I will fill it. Let's pray together. Our Father, we ask this evening,
would you bless this word to our hearts. Cause us, Lord, to
hear. Forgive us for Christ's sake.
Amen. for every needy sinner. A sinner burdened with the weight
of the presence of sin. One that is truly longing for
divine wisdom. Our Lord has given a scripture
tonight that I truly believe is going to be a great help. Mr. Hawker, Robert Hawker said
this concerning this passage I just read. Let us for a moment
drop Israel's history to which these verses refer to look into
our own We know how the Lord delivered Israel upon the several
occasions here described, but may not you and I conceive without
violence to the words that Jesus speaks to us in the same gracious
language? O precious Lord, let there be
no strange God in our hearts, Forbid that we ever set up the
idol there, but do thou open our mouth, open our hearts, and
fill us with thyself, that we may live to thee and to thy glory. Now, we here discover in this
passage of Scripture the eternal, inexpressible love and affection
that Almighty God possesses for the objects of His mercy. And in this verse 10, right here,
He removes the veil of doubt as to His relationship to His
elect. And He reveals Himself and His
good pleasure to provide every good and perfect gift to all
that he's everlastingly loved. Now I've got, out of this verse
10, I've got five points, and they're going to be short. I
just want to come right to the heart of this matter. I've got
five points, I've got five questions really. Number one, who is speaking? Here's my second question. To
whom is he speaking? Number three, what has he done?
for those to whom he speaketh. Number four, what is his command
to his people? And lastly, what does he promise
to do for them? Now here's the first question.
Who speaketh? The scripture says in verse 10,
I am the Lord. Capital L. capital O, capital
R, capital D. I am Jehovah. I am the I am. I am the only true God. I am the mighty God, the one
before whom every man, every woman is going to stand. An account
is going to be made. I am God the Father, the triune
God, I am the electing God, the one who has chosen his people
in Christ from before the foundation of the world. I love election. I love election. Do you realize that God says
that had there not been a remnant according to the election of
grace, if God had not elected a people Do you know what hope
we'd have here tonight? None. None. If God had not left
us a remnant according to election, we'd have all been like Sodom
and Gomorrah. I love the electing grace of
God. I am the Lord. I'm God the Son. The redeeming God. He who, in
particular, lived for and died for everyone that the Father
gave him. That's what he said. He said,
I laid down my life for you. I am God the Holy Spirit, the
regenerating and preserving God, who shall surely and irresistibly
call everyone of God's elect out of spiritual darkness. That's
what's going to happen. Salvation is sure for everyone
that God has chosen to show mercy. I'm going to save you. I'm going
to save in spite of you. I'll save you. This is by distinguishing
grace. Every man, every woman who has
a heart to know Him as the Lord. I am the Lord. Everyone that
knows Him knows Him only by revelation. He must reveal Himself. And when He speaks, and He does
speak, He speaks through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
My sheep hear my voice. I know them. They follow me.
I give them eternal life. Listen, Saul of Tarsus was on
the road to Damascus, and a bright light shined about him, fell
off of his horse, and he heard a voice say unto him, Saul, why
persecutest thou me? And this is what he said. Who
art thou, Lord? Now this is a Pharisee now. This
is one that everybody looked to as far as being the best of
the best, the creme de creme, right here. He's a Pharisee.
Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom
thou persecutest. This is the one to whom the porter
openeth. This is the one that the sheep
hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth
them out. You know, I've thought about
that. Our names were written in the
Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world. Now,
you know that's so. I mean, Scripture bears that out. It's always amazing
to me when it comes to naming a child. Well, what are we going
to name him? Well, let's get a book. Well,
let's go through some names. I remember that. Remember? I
don't know where I heard Gabe, but I remember I liked that name.
I liked that, you know. I said, we'll name our first
one Gabe. Be Gabriel. We're going to call
him Gabe. Gabriel David Stoniker. That's what I'm going to name
him. Right there. That name had been determined from before the
foundation of the world and by the grace of God written in Christ,
written in God's Lamb's book. God Almighty knows His own and
reveals Himself to His people. This is one speaking, I am the
Lord. Now let me ask you this, to whom
is He speaking? Look back in verse 10. I am the
Lord thy God. He's speaking to somebody. I
am your God. I am the Lord thy God. The God of distinguishing grace. The one who's been pleased to
show mercy and compassion to you. Moses asked the Lord, show
me your glory. He said, I'm going to cause all
my goodness to pass before you. Who is all the goodness of God?
That's Christ. I'm going to cause all my goodness
to pass before you, and I'm going to have mercy and compassion
on whomsoever I will. Paul the Apostle, under the inspiration
of God's Spirit, wrote in Romans chapter 9 concerning that passage
of Scripture in Exodus 33, said this, So then it's not of him
that willeth, nor of him that runneth." What's the foundation? It's God that shows mercy. Here's
the one that's speaking. It's the Lord. Who is He speaking
to? His people. I am thy people. Turn with me
to Ezekiel 36 again. I love this passage of Scripture.
I was reading over it a while ago and it just, again, I just
saw something and I thought, oh, that is so good. I want to
read that again tonight. Ezekiel, Ezekiel 36, 26. Now
listen to these words. Let's just take a second and
just look at them. A new heart also will I give
you. And you know what he just said?
I'm going to create a new man. I'm going to give you a new heart.
I'm going to give you a new heart. I'm going to make you a new,
I'm going to birth you from above. A new heart also will I give
you. A new spirit will I put within
you. And I will take away, I've told
you before, the dominion of sin. Sin does not have dominion. The
presence of sin is still there. You know that. But the dominion,
I'll take away the stony heart out of your flesh, I'll give
you a heart of flesh. And I will put, now here's what
I was reading a while ago, and I will put my spirit within you. Now just muse on that for just
a second. I will put my spirit within you. A believer is one who is the
possessor of the Spirit of God. I will put my Spirit within you
and cause you to walk in my statutes. The love of Christ constraineth
us. A believer desires to walk after
God Almighty. And ye shall keep my judgments
and do them, and ye shall dwell in the land I gave to your fathers,
you shall be my people and I will be your God. And we're going
to fellowship. And we come together and we assemble
ourselves together and we hear the message of redemption in
Christ, life in Christ, God's keeping grace. You're my people. I want to know
this. I always ask this question for
myself. Is He talking to me? I know He's talking to His people.
But I'm going to tell you something. I want to know if He's talking
to me. I'm just going to mention what I preached on Sunday out
of Micah 6, 8. Here's when the Lord says, What
does the Lord require of thee? But to do justly. I want to know this. Do I do
justly? Well, according to the scriptures,
what that means is this. Have I been made to justly admit
what I am? Here's the verdict. I'm a sinner. That's to do justly. That's what
that means. Am I a sinner? I am. I know I am. Here's the second
thing. Do I love mercy? Do I love salvation
totally by the mercy and grace of God? Do I love mercy? Or do
I desire to look to myself? I don't want to look to myself. I don't want to look to my ability.
I don't have it. I know it. I've got sense enough
by God's grace to know this. I love God's mercy. A sinner
needs mercy. Mercy is not deserved. Mercy
is from the one that gives it. Because He has mercy and compassion. And thirdly, do I walk humbly
with God? What does that mean? To know
in my heart I am what I am by God's grace. That's it. I am what I am by the grace of
God. I have nothing in myself which to boast. If these things
be so in this sinner, If I must be saved, apart from anything
that I can do, if my heart's been made to thank God for His
mercy and grace to me, if He's made me to realize, if He had
left me to myself, I'd perish in my sins. If I know that, according
to these scriptures, I've got a good hope. Christ Jesus came
to the world to save sinners, of whom I'm chief. Here's the
next question. What has he done for his own? Well, the next part of verse
10 says this, I'm the Lord thy God which brought thee out of
the land of Egypt. The Lord showed mercy to natural
Israel. And what he did was he gave them
the morning after the Passover. The Lord brought him out of Egypt.
But that physical deliverance was actually a beautiful type
and shadow of spiritual deliverance. The Lord brought him out. The Lord redeemed him out. Every regenerated sinner knows
this. I am not able to come out of
the bondage of sin. I can't do that. I cannot release
myself. I have no power to release myself. I've got to be redeemed. My sin
got to be paid for. I've got to have holiness to not be in bondage anymore.
I've got to be perfect and only in Christ He paid my debt and
He rode me. He is my all and in all. What
has He done for you? He said, I brought you out. I
brought you out. I brought you out. Brought you
out of Egypt. And what He does when it pleases
Him through the preaching of the gospel. Gets His elect under
the sound of the gospel. And He keeps them there. and
he teaches them what he's done. I brought you out. And what he
does, he takes an unwilling dead sinner, gives him a new heart,
a new spirit, and he gives him a heart now
that's willing in the day of his power to call upon the Lord
who's already saved him. Who has saved us and called us.
with a holy calling. But for God's grace, every man,
woman born in Adam would be perfectly satisfied to remain in the bondage
of his iniquity, thinking himself to be spiritually free, all the
while totally ensnared in the Egyptian night of rebellion against
God, thinking himself that he was serving God. Here's the next question. What
is his command to his people? Here's what he said. Open thy
mouth wide. Have you ever seen at least pictures
of little birds in a nest? Whenever a mama bird, daddy bird
happens to come, I don't know if they hear them. Those mouths
just open up. Wide open. You know what's going
to go in there? Whatever that bird gives them.
That's all they're doing. Straight up. Straight up. All
their mouths open. They're going to get fed. They're
going to get the provision of that bird. That is the illusion. That's what comes to my mind.
Thy mouth wide. Now I've tried to give this in
thought because I know that the thoughts of the old man, I know
what it is. You know, open your mouth wide,
open your mouth largely, open boldly, ask often, ask. And I know how we think by nature. What we think by nature is things
and mess and stuff. Temporal things. Now, I know
this. I know that we have, we live
in this world. I know that. I've got to have
something to eat and I've got to have something to drink and
I've got to have a place to stay. Now, has the Lord said anything
about that? Well, listen to Matthew 6, 31-33,
Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? Or what shall
we drink? Or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do
the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knoweth
that you have need of all these things. But, now we're going to get to the
heart of it right here, but, Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added
unto you. Now the key to opening our mouth
wide is in that last part of that verse right there. Seeking
first. Seeking primarily. with the utmost importance. The
kingdom of God and His righteousness. If we find or get a heart for
that, we're going to find the foundation of the base of what
it is to open our mouths wide. Here's what it's actually saying,
open your mouth wide, let thy desires from me be ever so extensive. Let your desires be extensive. Hold your place right there.
Turn to 1 Kings. 1 Kings 3. This verse of Scripture
came to my heart this morning as I was considering this message
this evening. 1 Kings 3. This is the best scripture that
I can think of, Pat, right now. Of opening your mouth wide and
seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and
all these other things added unto you. Let's listen to this.
1 Kings chapter 3 In verse 5 it says, In Gibeon the Lord appeared
to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, Ask what I shall
give thee. Now if there's ever been a question,
a statement made to a man, God actually met it. It says, In
Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night. He actually
appeared. He manifested himself in a dream. to Solomon and asked Solomon,
or told Solomon, he said, ask what I shall give thee. Now here's,
whatever he's about to say, I would say this, if there's ever been
a time to ask big, ask with a wide open mouth, right now's the time.
I want you to notice what the Spirit of God moved this man
to do. Solomon, number one, admitted
God's former mercies. Listen to verse six. And Solomon
said, Thou hast showed unto thy servant David, my father, great
mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in
righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee. And thou
hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou has given
him a son to sit on his throne as it is this day. First thing
Solomon said is, you've shown kindness to me and my family. Now I want you to notice the
next thing he did. He confessed his own weakness. Look at verse
7 and 8. And now, O Lord my God, thou
hast made thy servant king instead of David my father. and I am
but a little child. I know not how to go out or come
in. And thy servant is in the midst
of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people that cannot
be numbered nor counted for multitude." And then the next thing he does,
he asks the Lord with a wide open mouth. He asks big. This
is a big request right here. Look at verse 9. Give therefore
thy servant an understanding heart, a hearing heart. Lord, would you give me a heart
of discernment, to judge thy people that I may discern between
good and bad, for who is able to judge this thy soul great
a people? I thought to myself, what a request. Lord, would you give me a heart
that understands. A heart that hears from you. That's a request made by a man
God's done something for. I can tell you that right now.
If I knew, if I knew, today's my last day. I'll not see tomorrow. I'll not see in the morning.
God's gonna take me away. If I knew that, I ask myself
today, what would I ask for? You know, if it comes right down
to this, this is it, this is it. Mark, there's no more after
today in this world. What would I ask for? What would
matter to me then? What would really matter then? And I jotted down just a few
things, just thinking on some scriptures. Open your mouth wide. Oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in Him. Not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ. The righteousness which is of
God. by faith that I may know Him
and the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His sufferings
being made conformable unto His death, if by any means I might
attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Oh, may I be found longing and
asking to hear His voice. Lord, speak to me. Lord, have
mercy on me. Open your mouth wide. Lord, will you keep me by your
power, through faith, unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time? Lord, will you allow me to cast
all of my care on you because I've been assured by your spirit
that you care for me. Lord, would you save me? Lord, don't let me perish. Lastly, if I be found with my
mouth wide open, asking anything in His name, That is, for his
glory, for his honor, for his praise, what has he promised
to do? It's what he said, I will fill
it. I'll fill it. Ask largely. Open your mouth wide, and I will
fill it. When Solomon asked for an understanding
heart, a hearing heart. This is what the Lord said, Because
thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long
life, neither hast thou asked riches for thyself, nor hast
thou asked the life of thine enemies, but hast asked for thyself
understanding to discern judgment, behold, I have done according
to thy word. Lo, I have given thee a wise
and understanding heart, so that there was none like Thee before
Thee, neither after Thee shall arise any unto Thee. And I have
also given Thee that which Thou hast not asked, both riches and
honor, so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto
Thee all Thy days." Solomon sought first the kingdom
of God. Would you give me an understanding
heart to judge your people? I think as a pastor, Lord, will
you give me a pastor's heart? For these, your people. Lord,
would you give me discernment to hear from you concerning the
messages? Lord, would you bless these messages
to the salvation of your elect? Lord, would you teach us? Would
you comfort us, Lord? Would you knit our hearts together
in true fellowship? Lord, that we might be one with
you. Lord, would you visit us? Lord, would you meet with us?
You said you'd meet with two or threes gathered together in
your name. Lord, would you meet with us? Almighty God, speaking in Luke
12, 32, said to his people, fear not, little flock, for it is
your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. That is,
he's already given you that kingdom, you that know him, which consists
in the imputed righteousness of Christ to you. Peace before
God by His blood and joy in the Holy Spirit, in the Holy Ghost. He is eternally purposed to save
you to the uttermost. Little flock, omnipotence has
undertaken your cause. I am the Lord, thy God. which brought thee out of Egypt. Having redeemed you means I chose
you. My Son stood for you, bought
you by the shedding of His own blood, redemption. Spirit of
God calls you out of darkness. I'm going to keep you now. Open
your mouth wide and I'll fill it. Lord, bless these words to
our heart. For Christ's sake, amen.