That was good news. That was
a blessing. I was thinking about that latter
part, verse 22 you read. He said, I'm going to put you
in the cliffs of the rock. I'll cover you with my hand while
I pass by. Brother Joe Terrell, I didn't
get to hear it. It wasn't recorded. Something
happened. It wasn't recorded. The last message that he preached
in Rocky Mountain A couple of weeks ago, Brother Todd told
me that Joe made this statement. He said, we need to be saved. He said, we need to be saved
from sin. We need to be saved from the power of Satan. We need
to be saved from the corruption of our old nature, from self.
But he said we need to be saved from God. We need to be saved from the
justice of God. He said, I'll put you in the
cliff, the rock, and I'm going to cover you while I pass by. That was good. Let's take our
Bibles and turn with me to the book of Proverbs, chapter 18.
Proverbs, chapter 18. We just, verse by verse, verse by
verse, verse by verse, we're on verse 14. Proverbs 18, 14. The Spirit of God says, the spirit
of a man will sustain his infirmity. but a wounded spirit who can
bear. The understanding, the natural
understanding, the breath, that word spirit, the spirit of a
man will sustain his infirmities but a wounded spirit, same word,
but it has different meanings depending on how you use it.
Same word, different meanings depending on the context. The spirit of a man. The understanding, the life,
the breath of a man. The natural understanding. Understanding
that a man is born with. That spirit. Everybody is born
with the breath of God, life. The reason I can stand here and
talk to you and you can hear me is because of the spirit of
a man, the life of a man. It will sustain his infirmity,
it'll keep him, it'll bear him up, it'll nourish him in sickness,
It'll bear him up in his impovertish, impoverty. Let me just say it
like that. But a crushed, a pierced, a smitten
spirit, that understanding, who can carry that? Humanly speaking, If a man is
sick, humanly speaking, a man is sick, his natural spirit will
sustain him because he thinks, well, I can go to the doctor. I'm not feeling well. My stomach
is hurting. My back's been giving me some
problems. I'm going to go see a doctor and I'm going to get
some medicine. Well, I've been not feeling Well,
maybe I put on some weight. I can exercise. I can start eating
right. I'm going to eat more vegetables. I'm going to improve my health. I see a problem, but I can pretty
well fix it. And even religiously, the natural
spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity. I realize I've
gotten myself in a kind of a pickle. Things not going right for me.
But I've heard preachers on television tell me that if I'll just turn
over a new leaf, I can get right. I can do church. I can get religion. Because I have a free will. And
God wants to help me. God believes in me, that's what
that sign said. And if I give my heart to Jesus,
if I'll reform, if I'll get right, get my Bible, start praying,
I can pull through this thing. The Spirit of a man will sustain
his infirmity. And in this depressed, depraved,
dead spirit, I foolishly can believe that. I've got a conscience that tells
me you're okay. You do the best you can. You
do the right thing. You treat others like others
ought to treat you. and you'll be fine because God's a loving
God and He's not gonna do anything to hurt anybody that's sincere.
So physically or religiously, the spirit of man will sustain
his infirmity because he feels that things can always get better
if he'll just put forth a good effort. Just treat people right. Just do the right thing. Do the
right thing. Everything's going to be fine.
But a wounded spirit. Who can bear? Now that word wounded,
now there's when I said a while ago it just depends on the context.
The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity but a wounded spirit. A spirit that has been crushed.
A spirit that's been smitten, pierced. Here's one of the definitions
also, depending on the context. Made alive in understanding. Now there's a key right there.
A wounded spirit. One made alive. One quickened by grace. Now here's a spirit that only
a believer and the Lord Jesus Christ knows anything about.
One that has truly been crushed, smitten. That spirit of understanding
that Almighty God graciously gives everyone that he's purposed
to save. Blessed Matthew 5.3 says, are
the poor in spirit. For theirs is the kingdom of
God. Blessed are the men and women
that's been brought down in their estimation of themselves. Made
to understand by the grace of God that they're empty. That they are a nobody. Oh, how
wonderful it is to be around somebody that sees themselves
as being nobodies. It's just so comfortable. to
be around them. It's just so pleasurable. It's
just so sweet. To have someone that'll admit,
I don't have anything to reconcile me to God. I don't have any works
of righteousness. I don't have any good thoughts.
I've never said one nice, pleasing thing before God that merits
anything in myself. One that's been made to see their
poverty, blessed or the poor. One that's been made to say,
I'm the guilty party. The Apostle Paul asked this very
question. It says, the spirit of a man
will sustain his infirmity, but a wounded spirit Who can bear? This is what the Apostle Paul
asked in Romans 7 24. Oh wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? Who can deliver me from myself? That spirit of that old man that
just raises its ugly head and tries to tell a man that he's
somebody. Oh, wounded spirit, crushed,
subdued, smitten, one made to see the guilt of sin and the
evidence of it. Who can bear that? Who can sustain
that? If I think I can fix it with
a phone call, I will. If I can make a phone call, just
call somebody that's got some pull or this, that, and the other.
If I can do something, I will. But when I can do nothing, when I have no recourse but totally,
number one, admit myself, I'm the needy one. I'm the poor. I'm the one that has that wounded
spirit that knows what I am. Well, for one that has been given
by the grace of God to have truly a wounded spirit, a smitten,
brought down, put in the dust spirit, I got some good news
for you. Now, here's the thing. There
is some hope for the hopeless. Or hopeless itself. Matthew 11,
28. Now listen to this. Come unto
me. Come unto me. All ye that labor
and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. If you've got an out, if you
can fix it, if you can work it, if you've got an avenue whereby
you can get it all taken care of and you can reconcile yourself
back to God by something that you can do. I'm not talking to
you. I'm talking to those that are
poor. I'm talking to some needy people.
If there's anybody that truly is needy, heavy laden, I've got some great news for
you. There's one. There's one to whom
you can go. It's not me. It's not you. It's not yourself. Come unto
me. Come unto me. Don't come to the
front. I've told you before, there's nothing down here that
can help you. There's not a thing in the world
I can do for you. I'll try to. If somebody wants
to talk, I'll try to talk. But I can tell you this, I'm
not your help. Come unto me. Don't come to the
baptismal pool, it's just water. It is absolutely essential in
the confessing of your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but
the water is not going to do anything for you. You'll be wet,
but it's not going to help you. Don't come to the Lord's Supper. That's essential. We meet together. Once a month,
we come together and we look at the Word of God and we'll
eat a little piece of bread and we'll drink a little cup of wine.
But I'm going to tell you something. There's no life in it. It's a
piece of bread and it's a cup of wine. He said, come unto me. Come unto me. All who by grace
have found themselves to toil, struggling. And know yourselves
to be helpless in self. Come unto me, one who has suffered,
died as the lamb before God, God's provision, the lamb himself,
the one who alone redeemed his sheep, and has eternally stood
as the surety for his bride, coming to me. How? How? All I can tell you is this. Without
strength. How can I come? Needy. I'll tell you the what. I'll
tell you this. The one that calls you will receive you. The one you need, who has made
himself to you, to be life himself, you'll come. You'll come. If you have to, you will. If
you don't have to, you won't. I know, I know that. But if you
have to, you will. If the Spirit of God has made
you willing in the day of His power, See, this is what the
world wants to do. They want to give you an A, B,
C, 1, 2, 3, you know, this block, this block, this block. If you'll
do this, this, this, then God, oh no. I'm going to tell you
this. This is what God has to say.
All ye that labor and are heavy laden, you come to me and I'm
telling you the one that calls you will direct you. That takes
all the responsibility off of me telling you how to do anything,
because I can't tell you. Come unto me. I'll give you rest. Rest from laboring and trying
to establish righteousness before God by yourself. You can't do
that. Rest from the fear of condemnation
and judgment. rest from the burden of the law's
demand for righteousness before God. A wounded spirit, a smitten
spirit, who can bear? Only Him. I will give you rest. Paul the Apostle said in 2 Corinthians
12 10, for when I am weak, when I'm helpless, I'm not talking about when we
think of weak. We think of, well, you know,
I'm just tired. I can barely go. I'm talking
about less than that. I'm talking about when you can't
do anything. Weakness. Weak. When I'm weak, when I'm helpless,
then I'm strong. Why? Because I don't have any
ability. And God alone can save me. Turn to Isaiah 66. Isaiah 66, verses 1 and 2. Isaiah 66, verses
1 and 2. Thus saith the Lord. This is
what Jehovah has to say. The heaven is my throne. The earth is my footstool. And
where is the house that ye built unto me? And where is the place
of my rest? For all those things hath mine
hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord, but
to this man, or actually if you look at it, man's in italics,
but to this will I look. If you take out the italicized
words, here's what he says, to poor and of a contrite spirit
and trembleth at my word. What man will I look to in mercy? What man will I look to in compassion? Here's the man I'll look to.
I'm going to look to that man that is poor, that is afflicted. and needy, of a contrite spirit,
smitten and lame, like Mephibosheth. He couldn't walk. That trembleth,
that's fearful, that's reverential, that's afraid. That's what that
word meant. That trembleth, that's my word,
that's afraid. Remember when the children of
Israel, Moses, came to the base of the mountain, and to go up
on Sinai. It was lightning and thundering.
The people said, Moses, you go up there. We don't want to go. You go hear what God has to say.
We don't want to hear. To this man, while I look, that
man that is poor, a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. how thankful we are that almighty
God is pleased to manifest himself through the preaching of the
gospel. We meet, I'm so thankful. I'm so thankful. I'm thankful
for this building. It's a beautiful building. I
love this building. Boy, but it's what God's raised up in
this building. I looked it up to find out when
this assembly was actually established. January the 3rd, 1956. In just a few more months, 60 years. 60 years. And by the grace of
God, some of you that's been here almost all that time, some
of you that have been here all that time, you're still here. I'm so thankful. David said, I was glad when they
said to me, let's go to the house of the Lord. Let me ask you this,
where is there a house that can contain the Lord, that can contain
Him? All things in heaven and earth
are His. He's made for Himself and He keeps all that is made
by Himself for Himself in the calling out of His sheep. But
he's been pleased to look with respect onto those found in his
son. For the sake of his son, those
who by the grace of God are poor in spirit, of a contrite heart,
and that trembles at his word. I've told you before, I'm just
a voice. Almighty God can replace me in
a heartbeat. I'm nobody. I am nobody. That's what Brother Scott said
to me. What's a preacher? A preacher is a nobody that tells
everybody that there is somebody that can save anybody. It trembles at my word. You know
the only thing that matters out of this pulpit is what God has
to say. And every bit of the rest of
it's dumb. Just a piece of clay standing
here by the grace of God speaking to clay that's been dug out of
the same pit. God Almighty, pleased to show
mercy and compassion to some. Made to see themselves, the spirit
of a man will sustain his infirmity. All but a wounded spirit who
can bear. I can tell you this, he can.
He can. If you have this morning a spirit
made to see yourself, as nobody. It needs to hear God, hear from
God, hear his voice. What does he have to say? You're
a blessed person, blessed by the grace of God, a wounded spirit
who can sustain, who can bear. Oh, the Lord of glory can. Lord
calls me to hear today for Christ's sake. Amen.