I asked Brother Gary a while
ago to sing that song, and Brother Scott, our pastor, to read that psalm. I was reading an article by Brother
Moose Parks. And he said that years ago, when
he was pastoring in Louisville, he said they sang that song at
the cross. And someone had changed the words to such a worm as I. They had changed the words to
sinners such as I. And when they sang, sinners such
as I." Dr. Magruder said, I think those words have been changed.
He said, that's not what was originally written. You see,
the problem is, is that sinners today to the world is just those
that just kind of stubbed their toes. Kind of scrape their knees
a little bit. They're not really maggots. See, when someone sees themselves
as a maggot, that's when the Lord has done something for them.
There are very few maggots. Very few. But oh, that God would
be pleased to speak to worms. such as we are. You know, the
Lord referred to Himself as that. That's what I said last Wednesday. Scripture bears out things that
a believer would never, for that scriptural basis, would never
say. When the Lord said that, you
look at the humility of our blessed Savior. Oh, that God would speak
to some worms today. Turn with me, if you would, to
Proverbs chapter 7. Proverbs 7. I've entitled this message today,
The Secret of Life. The Secret of Life. I'd like
to look at the first five verses of Proverbs 7 as we go through
this blessed book. But the key to these five verses,
that which appears to me to be the verse that unlocks the heart
of this passage of Scripture, is in verse 2. First part of
verse 2. Here it is. Keep My commandments
and live. Keep them. Guard them. Observe them. Give heed to My Word, to My law,
to My statutes. Now you know, whenever you read
that, Do you know the first thing a
believer is going to do? Well, the first thing he's going to
do is his ears are going to perk up because he just heard something
that he knows in his heart he's treading on some real tough ground right here. He knows that it's not a frivolous
statement Because God Almighty does not mock His people. You
know He doesn't. But in that command, we observe
something that demands action. I don't think, I may be sadly
mistaken, Many, I would say, that could
preach the Gospel better than I. But I will tell you this,
there's no one that preaches a better Gospel. Because the
Gospel that we preach here is the Gospel of God. I said this,
I said many will preach it better, but not a better. What we believe here is the absolute,
total, sovereign grace of God. Salvation is by grace through
faith and that not of yourself. There is no room whatsoever for
your works. There is no room for your free
will. You don't have a free will. You are bound in trespasses and
sins. You have a heart by nature that
you're born with that is absolutely dead. And you can of yourself
do nothing. Nothing. If Almighty God saves
a man, He saves that man totally by His grace and His power and
His will and His purpose. And He saves that man and tells
that man about it. Man, when it comes to salvation,
is a helpless, dead sinner, a worm. Now, scripturally speaking, when
we talk about sinners, the Scripture sets forth a man is a sinner. I said a moment ago, what men
by nature think of sinners, they don't see themselves. We believe in sovereign grace.
Sovereign grace. That's what Almighty God raised
up here 50-something years ago, and it, by the grace of God,
stayed right there. But I will tell you this. Here's
a Scripture right here that sets forth an action by a man. Now you say, now how do you reconcile
those? I don't reconcile them. I don't
reconcile anything. With that command from Almighty
God, a believer immediately responds with the only words that he can.
Psalm 119, 17, Deal bountifully with thy servant that I may live. and keep Thy Word." Responsibility is laid upon me for obedience,
and I can do nothing but cast myself upon Him who is all of
my righteousness for salvation. Here's what I'm saying. Believers
are obedient people. and they put no trust whatsoever
in what they do. I want you to turn to Matthew
14. Matthew 14. I just made the statement and
I said this, God's people are obedient people. And they put no trust in what
they do. But they do. They do respond.
They do obey. Listen to this. Matthew 14, 25. And in the fourth watch of the
night, Jesus went unto them walking on the sea. And when the disciples
saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It's the
Spirit. And they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake
unto them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I. Be not afraid. You know, in that last verse
we just read, be of good cheer, the reason He said that is because
we need that. It is I. He revealed Himself. Be not afraid. Because we are
afraid. And Peter answered Him and said,
Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come unto Thee on the water. Now let
me tell you who this is. This is one of his apostles. He's a man. He's a frail creature. This man right here will deny
Him, will curse Him just before His crucifixion. Three times someone tried to
tell Him that You're one of His. Buddy, I tell you what, when
you think about salvation by grace, Anybody else, if you would
have treated me like that, you'd have treated me with disrespect? Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come
unto Thee on the water. And he said, Come. Now listen,
here's the sovereign Lord bidding Peter, to do what Peter by nature
can't do. Come. And when Peter was come
down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.
You can't do that. You can't do that. Men can't
walk on water. Oh, can't they? Keep my commandments." You can't
do that. Oh, can't they? But when he saw the wind boisterous,
strong, he was afraid. And beginning to sink, he cried
saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched
forth His hand and caught him and said unto him, O thou of
little faith, Wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they were
coming to the ship, the wind ceased. When they that were in
the ship came and worshipped him, saying of a truth, Thou
art the Son of God." The Lord bid Peter to do what
we said a moment ago by nature. Peter couldn't do it. and walk
on the water. And how quickly he realized his
frailty whenever he saw the water, whenever he saw the trouble. But hear the gloriously gracious
words of the Lord to Peter. O thou of little faith, wherefore
didst thou doubt? What gracious words those are.
O thou of little faith. Because He didn't say, O thou
of no faith. A little faith. I told you one time, I only remember
reading two passages of Scripture where the Scriptures referred
to great faith. Great faith. One of them was a Syrophoenician
woman who came to the Lord and asked for the Lord's help concerning
her daughter. And the Lord told her, He said,
It's not meat. It's not fat. That I should give
the children's bread to dogs. And she said, Lord, you're right.
You're right. I am a dog. But even dogs eat
the crumbs that fall from the master's table. And the other one was a soldier. Ask about help for a servant.
Great faith. Oh, well, surely you'd say that
about Peter. How about the other apostles? Surely there'd be someone here
this morning that the Lord would refer to as great faith. O thou of little faith." Today, by the grace of God, I'm
able to stand with, in company with, by the grace of God, some
of little faith. You know, the commands of our
Lord, they're real, solid. and believers truly desire
to obey them. They want to. They have a heart
to. I know this, the only obedience
before Almighty God whereby any man, any woman is accepted is
in the obedience, the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. in
the Beloved. Therefore, I know this, that
it is not by my obedience that I am accepted. It is not by my
works of righteousness, because by the works of self-righteousness,
the deeds of the law, no man is ever going to be justified
before God. But with every believer there
is a heart, a new heart that Almighty God gives to serve,
to bow before Him. A heart that sees the glory of
God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. And though plagued with
the presence of sin, His sheep follow Him. My sheep hear my
voice and they follow me. Well, this morning I'd like for
us to consider the evidence of God's work within His people.
I want to hear this. I need to hear this. I need to
hear what the Scriptures has got to say. Only a believer is concerned
about his salvation. You know that? Only a believer
is concerned about his salvation. Man by nature, life is just flying by. And man by nature just doesn't
care. This morning I'd like to consider
Philippians 2.13 says, For it is God which worketh in you,
both to will and to do of His good pleasure. So the work of
God within His people, it's evidenced. There's an evidence of it. I've said before, a believer
talks like a believer and they walk like a believer.
They act like one. Religion has a language. Out of the abundance of a man's
heart his mouth speaks. Just listen to what I've said
before. Just let somebody talk for just a few minutes. You'll
hear very quickly. It doesn't take long. Just a
second or two. You can pretty well pick up.
But the work of God within his people. That's God's work. For it is
God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good
pleasure. But then the marvelous thing
of this is that it's also declared to be their work too. 2 Thessalonians 3 says, For all
men have not faith. So I know that man by nature
is void of true faith. Philippians 129, for unto you
it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on
Him, but also to suffer for His sake. So faith is the gift of
God. You know that. You know that. When you hear men say, well,
listen, all you've got to do... All man's got to do. You ought
to be listening to that real quickly anyway. All you've got
to do is just exercise your faith. What faith? All men have not faith. And as
soon as a man, by faith, believes God, the first thing he says
is this. This was the gift of God. Because
I didn't believe Him. By nature, I wouldn't believe
Him. It's the work of God, and Almighty
God reveals it to be His people's work. They put no confidence in it.
The woman with the issue of blood, the Lord said to her when she
came and touched the hem of his garment, daughter, be of good
comfort. Thy faith. Now let me tell you
something. When He said, Thy faith, you
write this down. The object of your faith. Whenever
we talk about true faith, True faith has an object. The object of your faith hath
made thee whole. Man that puts his confidence
in his faith. And I know, I know somewhat what
I'm talking about. I sat in false religion a long
time. And I'm telling you, false religion
will tell you that your faith, your faith is what has made you
whole. If you think that it is your
faith that has made you whole, the object to which your faith
looks and believes, salvation is by the grace of God. Man that
thinks that his faith that He Himself, and you call it what
you want to call it, but that's nothing more than a self-righteous
work. I'm converted before Almighty
God because I believe. I didn't do much, but at least I believed. Well, unless God gives you a new heart
and delivers you from the bondage of that self-righteous attitude,
You'll stand before Him and you'll say, Lord, haven't we done many
mighty works in Your name? Here is the Lord's command to
His people. And here as His people obey by
His grace and power. God's people are obedient people. who find no comfort whatsoever
in what they have done. They look to Him who alone is
their obedience and righteousness before Almighty God, but they
are obedient people. Verse 1, My son, keep My words
and lay up My commandments with thee. Keep My words. Hold to Christ. The Word of God. Guard those words as a treasure,
for they are. They are from Him who has not
been silent to you. Whenever a believer hears the Word of God, hears
the message of Christ, The words of the Lord, I was thinking as
Brother Scott was reading it, Psalm 1. This psalm was written concerning
one man. One man. This psalm was written concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly." Have you ever not walked in the
counsel of the ungodly? Nor standeth in the way of sinners? There was only one that ever
did that. Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his
delight is in the law of the Lord. Is there any of us here that
would say this concerning ourselves? Oh, I've never deviated. I've
never, you know. And in His law doth He meditate
day and night. Name me one day and night that
any of us here ever did that. He shall be like a tree planted
by the rivers of water that bringeth forth His fruit, His people. His objects of mercy
in His season. And His leaf, He's the vine,
we're the branches, His leaf shall not wither. And whatsoever
He doeth shall prosper. Let me ask you this. Whenever
a believer hears of Christ, You keep that. My son, keep my
words. Hide those words. Lord, that's
you. Lord, that's honoring to you. Lord, thank you for just letting
me hear that. Thank you for letting me see
that. Thank you for letting me know that. And thank you that
we're not here to talk about ourselves. Keep My commandments and live.
My law is the apple of thine eye. Hold to that which you cannot
live without." Like I say, there's no mention
right here of anything in here concerning you establishing a
righteousness before God. Hold it. I cannot help but think about
Jacob when he wrestled with the man, the Lord Jesus Himself. Holding to him. And the Lord
told him, turn me loose. You know what Jacob said. Not
unless you bless me. Do you realize the grace of God
that would give Jacob a heart to hold on? He was wrestling
with Him who wrestled with Jacob and held Jacob and allowed Jacob
to hold Him. He spoke this world into existence. Do you think He couldn't cast
Jacob off? By the grace of God, God's people,
Keep His words and lay His commandments with thee and keep His commandments
and live. His law is the apple of their
eye. I get a little something in my
eye, you know. Trying to work with it a little
bit there and get it out. Still a little something there.
Take a look at it. Can you see it? No, I can't even
see it. I don't see anything in your
eye. Well, there's something there, I can tell you right now.
It irritates. Tender. Keep His Word, His commandments,
and live. It's the evidence of life. Here's
the secret. God gives His people a heart
after Him. And they love Him because He
first loved them. He does not love them because
they loved Him first. He loved them first. He loved
them with an everlasting love. And there was nothing in them
to merit that love. Why would Almighty God Choose
to set his love and affection on one and bypass another. Now, you can go back and read
this in Romans 9 for the sake of time. I won't. But you've
read it. Hath not the potter power over
the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor?
Read Romans 9. Why would God Almighty Choose
to set His affection on one. Someone says that. Well, that's
not fair. Well, as I've said before, men start talking about
fair, and I'll tell you the Scripture that comes to my mind. In Adam,
all die. Anytime you hear of sovereign,
electing, distinguishing, choosing grace, it is unto life. And God did not leave everyone
to themselves. People that said, I think that
everybody ought to have a chance. I think everybody ought to have
a chance. Let's go to a graveyard. We'll
go right now if you want to. And we'll stand out there in
front of that graveyard. And I'm going to give everybody a
chance to come out of that grave. Everybody's got a chance. You
say, well, that's ridiculous. If you didn't get one of the
little bulletin things today, get one. Brother Walter Groover
wrote a good article on the deadness of a God that can do nothing.
Give everybody a chance, but what if everybody's dead? Which
they are. But if God Almighty imparts life
and chooses to show mercy to sons, That's by the grace of
God. And He gives them a heart after
Him. Bind them upon thy fingers, and
write them upon the table of thine heart. Now here's the words
of God Almighty to His people. Here's a word from God who is
the husband of the bride, the husband of the sheep. The husband
of the church, the surety, the life. Talking about His commandments,
His words that you find nothing in for giving yourself any glory
or honor. You obey because you want to. And you trust Him totally for
salvation. And you follow after Him. Long after Him. Bind them upon thy fingers. Whenever
I perform a wedding ceremony, it's always a ring ceremony.
It's always a part of the ceremony where you have a ring. And I'll
tell the wife or the spouse, I said, now I want you to take
that ring and I want you to put it on the third finger of the
left hand. I said, now listen, now what
that is, that's a token. It's a token. It's a piece of
metal is what it is. It's metal. That's all it is.
But it's a symbol of something that you have in your heart.
And I'll ask both parties. I said, now let me ask you this.
Will you wear that ring as a token or a symbol for this other person's
love for you? Will you wear that as a token?
Are you going to give them a token of your love? Yes, I will. Are
you going to wear that ring as a token of your love for them?
Yes, I will. Bind them upon thy fingers like
a ring that is a symbol of a wedded couple. Bind them. bind them
as an ornament of God Almighty's love for you and your love for
Him. He was the one that established
this love. He loved me with an everlasting
love. And write it upon the table of
your heart. A man by nature is written, that
sin all over his heart. Jeremiah 17, 1, the sin of Judah
is written with a pen of iron and with the point of a diamond.
It's graven upon the table of their heart, upon the horns of
your altar. This is what's written on my
old heart. I hate God. I hate God. I hate God. You say, well, man,
Marvin, good night. You're a little strong. A little
strong there, aren't you? No. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. I'll not have that man rule over
me. I'm my own God. But He gives
a new heart and He says, I'll write my law. I'll write my word. I'll write that. and a believer hears those blessed
words. He said that those commandments
that I know in myself I can't keep, but I desire to. I want to come. I've said before,
you know, you come this morning. Here's a preaching of the gospel
of free grace. And you that believe, do you
find any thought in your mind that because you came today,
because you came today, that God Almighty is now happy with
you, because you came, because you decided today to come, that
God is pleased with you. You say, no, no. Then why are you here? I want
to hear of Him who has been merciful to me. I want to bind it on my
heart. I want to take it and bind it
on my finger as a token. Say unto wisdom, thou art my
sister, and call understanding thy kin's woman. Say unto wisdom, say unto Christ
Himself, the wisdom of God, you are my relative. In fact, I looked up that word
sister right there. Thou art my sister. And it had
this description or this wording in the description of it. The
same soil. Lord, You made Yourself with
no reputation. Lord, You made Yourself. You
were made flesh. You condescended. Lord, I needed
a substitute. And for me to have a substitute
that would bear away, take my guilt, make it His own. Psalm 40, that's where Psalm
40 says, mine iniquities have taken hold upon me. Who's speaking
there? The Lord Jesus. Lord, You say
unto wisdom, You're of my soil, my relative. You came unto your own. By nature,
your own who received you not, but as many as received you.
It became evident to them gave He the power. He was the one
that made them what they are. Call understanding thy kin's
woman, your known one. Your known one. K-N-O-W-N. your known One." This is life
eternal. That they may know Thee. And then the reason that He has spoken to us and
given us a heart to keep His words, to guard them, to hunger
after them, to lay up His commandments, to not glory in anything that
we've done. The reason, this last verse,
Verse 5, that they may keep thee from the strange woman, from
the stranger which flattereth with her words. Words, which flattereth with
her words. Words here is the bait that draws
men's heart away. Words. Flattereth with her words. There's a great distinction between
His Word and her words. His words, her words. Flattering
words. Enticing words of man's wisdom. Have God said that you'll die? You don't really believe. that you'll really die. No, if
you eat the fruit, you see, you'll be like God. Flattering words. Do you really
believe that salvation is all of grace? You're not really depraved. There's a little good in every
man. We're all working for the same
thing. It's just that the spokes kind
of go out in different directions. It all comes right back to the
hub. We all truly, basically believe
the same thing. No, we don't. No. Any place where the gospel of God's grace
The gospel that was delivered unto the saints from God. The same gospel that was taught
the apostles. Paul said, if any man preach
any other gospel than that which we've preached, go back and read
Ephesians and Galatians and Romans. Go back and read these scriptures
and tell me what gospel is set forth the gospel of free grace,
sovereign saving grace. If any man preach any other gospel
than that which we've delivered unto you, let him be accursed. Any place where the gospel of
free grace, any place where the gospel of God's sovereign saving
grace is not preached is a house of spiritual whoredoms. They are strange women. Harlots. Harlots. Anyplace. These words, you keep them. You lay them up in your heart.
You bind them on your fingers. You write them on the table of
your heart. You say unto Christ, you say unto wisdom, you are
my sister. You made yourself to be my sister. Call understanding Christ Himself, thy kin's woman, your known one. And the reason that He reveals
Himself unto the people is to keep thee from the strange woman,
from the stranger which flattereth with her words. There's always
a false gospel. And I'll tell you the very heart
of a false gospel. The heart of a false gospel is
it makes salvation to be based upon something that you have
to do to establish that salvation. Now, I will tell you this. God's
people are obedient people. They are obedient. They believe Him. They hear Him. This is my beloved Son. Hear
ye Him. They trust Him. That's obedience. They trust
Him. They follow Him. They hunger
after Him. They thirst after Him. They look
for Him. They look for His second coming.
He just told them, just in Revelation, He just told them, I come quickly. They're looking for Him. Not as they wish they would,
but they do. They see through a glass darkly,
but they see. They know in part, but they know. But they don't trust one thing
that they've done. They trust Him who is their life.
And they rest in Him. Obedient people who look to Him
who is their total righteousness before God. for Christ's sake. Amen.