Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Psalms. Psalms 106. I was reading this psalm this
morning and it just so blessed me. I wanted to make some comments.
out of this particular chapter before we observe our Lord's
table. Let's read the psalm. Let's read
the scriptures together and then we'll ask our Lord's blessing.
Psalm 106. Praise ye the Lord. O give thanks
unto the Lord for he is good. For his mercy endureth forever.
Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? Who can show forth
all His praise? Blessed are they that keep judgment,
and He that doeth righteousness at all times. Remember Me, O
Lord, with the favor that Thou bearest unto Thy people. Oh,
visit Me with Thy salvation, that I may see the good of Thy
chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of Thy nation, that
I may glorify with Thine inheritance. We have sinned with our fathers.
We have committed iniquity. We have done wickedly. Our fathers
understood not Thy wonders in Egypt. They remembered not the
multitude of Thy mercies, but provoked Him at the sea, even
at the Red Sea. Nevertheless, He saved them for
His namesake, that He might make His power known that He might
make His mighty power to be known. He rebuked the Red Sea also.
It was dried up. So He led them through the depths,
through the wilderness. And He saved them from the hand
of Him that hated them and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
And the waters covered their enemies. There was not one of
them left. Then believed they His words.
They sang His praise. They soon forgot his works. They waited not for his counsel,
but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted God in
the desert. And he gave them their request,
but sent leanness into their soul. They envied Moses also
in the camp. And Aaron, the saint of the Lord,
the earth opened and swallowed up Dathan and covered the company
of Abiram. and a fire was kindled in their
company. The flame burned up the wicked. They made a calf
in Horeb and worshipped the molten image. Thus they changed their
glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass. They
forgot God, their Savior, which had done great things in Egypt,
wondrous works in the land of Ham. terrible things by the Red
Sea. Therefore he said that he would
destroy them had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the
breach to turn away his wrath lest he should destroy them.
Yea, they despised the pleasant land. They believed not his word
but murmured in their tents and hearkened not unto the voice
of the Lord. Therefore he lifted up his hand
against them to overthrow them in the wilderness, to overthrow
their seed also among the nations, and to scatter them in the lands.
They joined themselves also unto Baal Peor and ate the sacrifices
of the dead, and thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions,
and the plague break in upon them. Then stood up Phinehas
and executed judgment, and so the plague was stayed. And that
was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations evermore. They angered him also at the
waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses for their
sakes, because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake
unadvisedly with his lips. They did not destroy the nations
concerning whom the Lord commanded them, but were mingled among
the heathen and learned their works, and they served their
idols. which were a snare unto them.
Yea, they sacrificed their sons and daughters unto devils, and
shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and their
daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan. The
land was polluted with blood. Thus were they defiled with their
own works, and went a-whoring with their own inventions. Therefore
was the wrath of the Lord kindled against His people, insomuch
that He abhorred His own inheritance. And he gave them into the hand
of the heathen, and they that hated them ruled over them. Their enemies also oppressed
them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand.
Many times did he deliver them, but they provoked him with their
counsel and were brought low for their iniquity. Nevertheless,
he regarded their afflictions when he heard their cry. and
He remembered them for His covenant and repented according to the
multitude of His mercies. He made them also to be pitied
in all those that carried them captive. Save us, O Lord our
God, and gather us from among the heathen to give thanks unto
Thy holy name and to triumph in Thy praise. Blessed be the
Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting. And let all the
people say Amen. Praise ye the Lord. Brother Carl,
would you lead us in prayer, please? Amen. Reading the history of the nation
of Israel, their deliverance, their rebellions, God's mercy. Do we not, as Brother
Corral just prayed, do we not see ourselves there? That's just
like, I mean, just talking about us, wouldn't it, Mitch? That's
us. Oh, the wonder of a word found in verse 8 and
verse 44. all of those things, that which
He had done, that which He has done for us, the way in which
we fail, oh, how quickly our minds are brought back to that
Scripture. If the Lord should mark iniquity,
who could stand? Verse 8 says, He saved them for
His namesake. For the demonstration of the
honor and the glory of His precious Name in spite of the fact that
we are failing, frail creatures nevertheless. Nevertheless, he
regarded their affliction, verse 44 says, seeing the distress
because of their own frailty, because of their own rebellion.
Nevertheless, he did not turn away from them. He came to them as the deliverer. came to them as their deliverer. In all of these, every act of
our being, every thought of our mind that's inconsistent, every
fleeting thought of inconsistency, nevertheless,
Almighty God is forever sworn according to His counsel, His
promise. I will have mercy. I will have
compassion. How often my mind is wrought
to consider the long-suffering of the Lord. God is not slack. Scripture says
that some men count slackness but his long-suffering. Aren't
you glad of that? Aren't you glad that he does
not deal with us after our manners? But for his name's sake, according
to his character, according to his honor, according to his covenant
promises, nevertheless, nevertheless, But upon what has Almighty God
based and eternally established this covenant of grace? I'll
tell you what it is. It's based upon His precious
Son. All things are for Him, to Him. This is my beloved Son in whom
I'm well pleased. Hear Him. As I've said many times,
this is what you're listening for. If you hear the glory of
Christ, your heart's settled. You rest. You're joyful. You're thankful. You think back on yourself. You
think back on yourself right now. You consider yourself right
now. And that precious, precious Word,
nevertheless, nevertheless. Mercy, compassion is going to
be shown to a people. God is just, and justice must
be served. Absolutely, I'm a just God, Savior. Forgiveness of sins would surely
be known. by the object of God's mercy.
They're going to know about forgiveness. God's going to teach them. But not at the expense of His
justice. Without the shedding of blood,
no forgiveness. Though we fail in all, and we
know we do. His Word, His covenant never fails. In myself, I see
the presence of sin. And it grieves me as Job says,
I pour myself. Jeremiah. Paul said the same
thing. O wretched man that I am! Who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? Is there a word from God for
me tonight? Is there a word from the Lord
that will give me some comfort when I see the continual falling. Is there a word? Yes, here it
is. Marvin, though you struggle,
though you can't even make it through a prayer, though you can't even read, how
many times And I found myself wandering nevertheless. I hear that word and I think,
Lord, but for Your mercy, where would I be? But for God's grace,
where would I be? But for Your promise, but for
Your Word, it fails not. Nevertheless, He saved them for
His name's sake. that He might make His mighty
power to be known." You see, it's all concerning Him. It's
all about His name. It's all about His power. It's
all about His honor, His praise. Nevertheless, He regarded their
affliction when He heard their cry. You that have no confidence in
your flesh. Don't trust in yourself that
you're righteous. You're a blessed person. That
mark of absolute grace has been shown you. That mark of God's
goodness to you is exhibited. This is what you know. God has
provided Himself a Lamb. I know that. That Lamb that we
absolutely must by faith feast upon. It is absolutely, absolutely
essential that we feast by faith. Listen to this scripture, John
6, 53, 54, Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink
His blood, you have no life in you. Whosoever eateth my flesh
and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up
at the last day." I know this. I know that the
Lamb, God's Son, and the eternal purpose and will of God Almighty
was slain from the foundation of the world. But he had to come
into this world and die. He had to. Blood actually had
to be shed. His body had to be broken. Scripture
says in Matthew 26, 26, And as they were eating, Jesus took
bread, and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples,
and said, Take, eat, this is my body. This is the symbol. You know
that that was not actually his body. And that's not what he
meant. This is the actual symbol of
my suffering. The broken bread sets forth his
sufferings. Broken body. Body that was given. Willingly. He said, I lay down
my life for the sheep. No man takes my life from me.
Romans didn't take his life. He laid it down. He said, I've
got power to lay it down. I've got power to take it again.
He said, accept ye of that by faith. And by faith, we believe
that he suffered on our behalf, on the behalf of his sheep, on
the behalf of his people, his church. The ones that He laid
down His life for. For whom did He suffer? He said,
I give my life for the sheep. That's His words. I'm telling
you, that body was broken and for everyone for whom it was
broken, it was effectual. Except you eat the body of the
Son of Man. Except you believe by faith.
He broke and was broken for me. Matthew 26, 27, 28, He took the
cup, gave thanks and gave it to them saying, Drink ye all
of it for this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed
for many for the remission of sins. This is the blood of the
New Testament. This was not the blood of animals.
This was not the blood of bulls and goats of the old covenant.
That was a picture. It was a type ordained by God
to set forth Him who would come, God's Lamb. But when we drink
of that cup, by faith, by faith, we drink of Him. It's a picture. but a glorious picture set down,
not by man, not by merely a man, by the man. This is what He said
to do. And as I've said before, Brother
Henry and Brother Scott both told me, this is true worship. This is obedience. We're going to eat and drink
tonight by the grace of God. to eat and drink together. And
just as surely as He was with His disciples that night, the
night in which He was betrayed, just as surely as He ate and
drank with them, He's with us tonight. We have His Word on
that. The two or three are gathered
together. My name. I'm in the midst of you. I'm
going to ask the men to come now. And let's partake of our
Lord's Table.