All right, brethren, Psalm 139. Our subject is How Precious Thy
Thoughts. And I got that title from verse
17. Psalm 139, verse 17. Psalm 139, verse 17, David says,
how precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God. That's not David's
thoughts toward God, but God's thoughts toward David. How precious
also are thy thoughts unto me, O God. How great is the sum of
them. If I should count them, they're
more in number than the sand. When I awake, I am still with
thee. This whole psalm is talking to
us about how God knows us, how He has His hand upon His people,
how He has us beset before and behind, how that He sees us at
all times and knows all things, continually with his people wherever
we are. Now in God's word, he describes
a believer, God describes a believer as a sheep in the midst of wolves. A helpless sheep in the midst
of ferocious wolves. He describes us as a dove surrounded
by serpents. And he's speaking here of them
as wicked men. That's what he describes them
here, as wicked men. And we're not just talking about
obviously wicked men, but all who do not believe on Christ,
all who are not regenerated by the Spirit of God and trust in
Christ by God-given faith are described here as the wicked. Verse 19, he calls the wicked
bloody men. If they haven't committed murder
outwardly, scripture says murder is in the natural heart, bloody
men. Verse 20, the wicked speak against
God wickedly. The wicked, he describes there
in verse 20 as God's enemies. And they take God's name in vain.
We hear God's name taken in vain constantly now. And it's not
only using God's word as a cuss word using it just in vain. It's also anybody who claims
to believe on God, takes Christ's name as theirs, and yet does
not trust Him for all, but are yet looking to themselves, that's
taking His name in vain. Verse 21, the wicked hate God. He describes them as rising up
against God, And therefore, because they do these things toward God,
that's their heart toward God, that's their heart toward us
as God's people. And then, not only do we have
the wicked men to contend with, we have a wicked man in our old
sin nature. That is, he meets every description
we just talked about, a wicked man in our sin nature. Every believer will still confess
that we have an old man of sin that is just as wicked as he
was before God created a new man within us. So every true
believer depends entirely upon the Lord. We face trouble in
this world, and therefore when we are reminded by God's word
that God thinks on us, His thoughts are toward us. You can't put
a price on that. We cannot put a price on God's
thoughts toward us. He says there in verse 17, how precious also
are thy thoughts unto me, O God. They're precious. You can't put
a price on God's thoughts toward His people. And they're more
than we can number. They're infinite as God is infinite.
and more in number as the sand of the sea, he said. And so because
we depend upon God, we're looking to God for everything, to our
Lord Jesus for everything. And we pray for him to, he knows
our heart better than we know our heart. And so we ask him
to try our heart, to look upon our heart, and if there's some
wicked way in us that we don't know, to lead us in the way everlasting. He said there in verse 23, Psalm
139, 23. Search me, O God, and know my
heart. Try me and know my thoughts.
See if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way
everlasting. He's just saying, Lord, don't
leave me to myself. He's saying, you know my heart. And if there's something in me,
I don't see it, I don't know it, and it's harming me, lead
me in the way everlasting. It's the greatest comfort for
God's child that God thinks on us. His thoughts are toward us
to save His people. That's great, great comfort to
us. And that's the reason that His people will be saved is because
God's thoughts are toward His people. I want to show you about
four or five things here. Before anything was made, before
God made anything, God's thoughts were on His people. His thoughts
were toward us before He made anything. When God's child's
heavy with trouble, it doesn't matter if it's trouble at your
job, trouble with neighbors, trouble with your health, trouble
in the family, trouble with your own sin, whatever the trouble
is. Brethren, our comfort is knowing
God's thoughts have been toward His particular people since before
he created time. His thoughts have been toward
us since before time existed. Jeremiah 29, 11, let's look there,
Jeremiah 29, 11. This is when the children of
Israel were in Babylon and God was determining what he would
do. But it wasn't, as we saw last time from Romans 9, it wasn't
toward all the children in Israel, it was toward his elect in Israel.
The others benefited from it, but it was what God thought toward
his elect. And this is what God thinks toward
his elect among Jew and Gentile. In any nation, male, female,
rich, poor, no matter our station in life, this is God's thought
toward all his elect people. He said, verse 11, for I know
the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts
of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. To give you an expected end. False preachers lie to sinners. And they say to every person,
God has a wonderful plan for your life. And then they say,
if you'll let him. Let me ask you something. Israel came to that Red Sea,
and the Lord opened that Red Sea, and they went across on
dry ground, and Pharaoh and his army went in behind them, and
God just let the waters go and drowned Pharaoh and all his army. Would you have said to Pharaoh,
God has a wonderful plan for your life? That would have been
a lie, wouldn't it? First of all, scripture never
declares that man lets God fulfill his purpose. God's sovereign
God and his grace is irresistible. We're grasshoppers. He sits on
the circle of the earth and we're his grasshoppers before him.
We don't let him do anything. But secondly, God's word never
speaks of God having a plan. That comes from translations
that have changed the meaning of the word The word is God's
purpose. God purposes. God has a purpose. And it's not just a matter of
words here. God's purpose comes from his counsel. Scripture never
declares that God's counsel and his purpose is toward all men
without exception. He has a counsel toward all men. a chosen people and a purpose
toward a chosen people, and it's for them that God works all things. Look at Romans 8, 28. Romans
8, 28. God's thoughts are on his people. We just see in this Psalm, God hates the wicked and will
destroy the wicked. what God's thoughts are toward
his people constantly. God distinguishes his people
from all other people, and it's simply because God would by his
grace. Look at Romans 8.28. Men butcher
this by saying all things work together for good. These different ways they say
this. Listen to what the verse says. Romans 8, 28, we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called, those God has called by His grace,
according to His purpose. You see that? According to His
purpose. And here's His purpose. Read
the rest of it. For whom he did foreknow, he
did it, he foreordained. He knew us and loved us and elect
us. And whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, them he also called. This is his purpose. And whom he called, them he also
justified. and whom He justified, then He
also glorified. What shall we say then? If God
be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own
Son, but delivered Him up for us all. You see, you've seen
here who the us are. It's these that God foreknew.
Those He justified, those He predestinated, those He called,
those He glorified in Christ. He delivered Christ up for us
all. How shall He not with Him also
freely give us all things? apart from our worst, apart from
anything that we did to work for it or earn it, he freely
gives it to us. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's leg? It's God that justifies. Who
is he that condemns? It's Christ that died, yea, rather
that's risen again, who's even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. Watch this now. Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? If he loved you, he always
loved you, and he will always love you. Who's gonna separate
us from his love? That's nobody. Look, shall tribulation
or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril
or sword? As it's written, for thy sake,
we're killed all the day long. We're accounted as sheep for
the slaughter. We're helpless sheep. No, in all these things,
we're more than conquerors. because of him, through him that
loved us. For I'm persuaded that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the
love of God, where is it at? Which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord. See, everything God did, he did
it in Christ. He chose his people in Christ. He foreknew us in Christ. He
predestinated us in Christ. He justified us in Christ. He
called us into Christ. He justified us in Christ. He
glorified us in Christ. It's Christ that's making intercession
for us. It's Christ who's sovereignly
ruling all these things that he just talked about. So if he's
for us, nobody can be against us. That's the truth of God's
purpose. God's purpose is worked according
to his counsel. Proverbs 20 verse 18 says, every
purpose is established by counsel. That means before the purpose
came counsel. What does the scripture say?
Ephesians 1 11 says, in Christ we've obtained an inheritance
being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will. And he does
it so that we will praise God's glory for trusting Christ, being
the first one to put it all in Christ's hand and trust his son
to save us. That's the truth about God's
purpose. And it's for his people. Before God's thoughts were toward
Before time, God's thoughts were toward his people in Christ.
We saw Sunday, God called it his eternal purpose which he
purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Look at Psalm 33 11. Psalm
33 11. Listen to this right here. Verse 11 says, the counsel of
the Lord standeth forever. the thoughts of his heart to
all generations. That means as long as there's
time, all generations that come, his counsel, that eternal counsel,
he foreknew his people, blessed us in Christ with all spiritual
blessing, Christ came and redeemed his people, he's risen and interceding
for us now, and throughout time, from the time in the garden when
God told Adam Christ is coming, the seed of woman, he's gonna
crush the devil's head. The devil's gonna bruise his
heel, but he's gonna crush the devil's head. He saved Abel with
that gospel. He saved Noah with that gospel.
He saved Abraham with that gospel. He saved Moses with that gospel.
In every generation, his counsel has stood, it's never changed.
The counsel of the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of his
heart to all generations. That don't mean all people, that
means to all periods of time. His counsel has never changed.
Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. There is but one
nation whose God is the Lord. Peter called up his holy nation,
his chosen people, his holy priesthood. his keenly priesthood, that nation
who God Christ by his blood has made us kings and priests unto
God, and he called us out of darkness into his marvelous light,
the Israel of God. There's one nation whose God
is the Lord, and here they are, the people whom he has chosen
for his own inheritance. So his thoughts never change.
God's thoughts toward his people will never be changed. Because God's counsel is immutable.
Scripture says, God willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs
of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by
an oath. Two immutable things, unchangeable
things, impossible for God to lie. His counsel and his oath
to his counsel. Go to Isaiah 14. God used the
Assyrians to illustrate this. He used Israel, the nation, and
the Assyrians to illustrate it. But this is God's purpose and
counsel toward his people, his spiritual people, throughout
time. This is what he's doing in this earth right now today.
Right now, you see the Persians and Israel in a war, or back
and forth, shooting at one another. the Persians in Israel. It's
like Artaxerxes and Hezekiah over there arguing back and forth
with each other. I wouldn't necessarily call Netanyahu
Hezekiah. I won't insult Hezekiah. But
it's God's counsel. He illustrated it using nations,
but this is his eternal purpose. Look at Isaiah 14, 24. The Lord
of hosts hath sworn saying, surely as I have thought,
so shall it come to pass. And as I have purpose, so shall
it stand. that I will break the Assyrian
in my land, and upon my mountains tread him underfoot. Then shall
his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off
their shoulders. This is the purpose that is purposed
upon the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched
out upon all the nations, for the Lord of hosts hath purposed,
and who shall disannul it? And his hand is stretched out,
and who shall turn it back? Believer, you remember, God's
thoughts have been upon his people from before time, and he shall
bring his purpose to stand, to pass, his counsel shall stand
forever, he shall save us. So no matter what comes to pass,
no matter what trouble you come into, you look to Christ and
you stay upon him. Ignore the trouble below, look
to him who's ruling the trouble. Now secondly, when we're troubled
by our sins, The Holy Spirit keeps renewing us to remember
when Christ went to the cross, his thoughts were upon his people.
He went to that cross to fulfill that purpose of God, that counsel
of God, and his thoughts were on his people, and he put away
our sins. He justified his people. He reconciled
us to God so we have peace with God. Remember that. That's why
he went to the cross. His thoughts were on his people.
He redeemed his people. The scripture says he went there
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done. But that says that about those
wicked men. Yeah, but he was ruling them, and it's like he's
ruling everything. And he was going there to that
cross because of God's counsel, what God had determined before
to be done, because of God's thoughts toward his people. That's
why he went, went on purpose. Our Savior can say what Joseph
said. As for you, you thought evil against me, but God meant
it unto good to bring to pass as it is this day to save much
people alive. That's why Christ went to the
cross. He accomplished, go to Daniel 9, he accomplished exactly
what he declared he'd accomplished, what he gave to Daniel to declare. This is what Christ accomplished
on the cross, right here. Daniel 9, 24. People get hung
up on the 70 weeks and the numbers and miss the gospel entirely.
That's on purpose, that's on purpose too. God put that there
to let them get all tangled up and chew on briars while his
people rejoice in the bread from heaven. Look here, Daniel 9 24,
70 weeks are determined. Let me solve that problem for
you. That means when the fullness of the time was come. That's
what he said in, Paul said in Galatians. The time God had set,
according to his counsel, his purpose. Upon thy people, upon
thy holy city, that's the same thing, his people, his holy city.
Here's what Christ did at the cross. He finished the transgression
and he made an end of sins. and he made reconciliation for
Nicodemus. He reconciled his people to God. He brought in everlasting righteousness. He sealed up the vision and the
prophecy, fulfilled all the law and the prophets, and he anointed
the most holy. He entered into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption for us. Believer, when your sins
trouble you, Remember Christ's thoughts were towards you when
he was on that cross. His thoughts were towards you
when he cried out. It is finished. I'll tell you
how to hear that. Hear that as his thoughts being
toward you alone, like you was the only child he had. And he's
saying to you, when your sins trouble you and you're cast down
because of your sin, hear Christ say to you who he is, to you
he's called, to you that he's given a love for him, that they
believe this gospel. Hear Him say to you, it is finished. It's over, I put it away. Thirdly,
then we were conceived in sin. There we were, conceived in sin
in our mother's womb. You talk about helpless now,
as helpless as you can be. His thoughts were toward His
chosen people. Those He chose, those Christ redeemed, those
that He purposed and predestinated the time when He would regenerate,
his thoughts were on us in our mother's womb. Look back at verse
15. That's what he said here. My
substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and
curiously wrought the lowest parts of the earth. That's the
womb. Thine eyes did see my substance yet being unperfect and in that
book all my members were written which in continuance were fashioned
when as yet there was none of them. And then we were born,
babies, separated from our mother's womb by God He told Jeremiah,
before I formed you in the belly, I knew you. When you came forth,
I knew you, I was with you, my hand was on you, I separated
you from your mother's womb. The whole time we were in darkness,
his thoughts were on us. We weren't thinking of him. Scripture
says of the wicked, God is not in all his thoughts. That means
there wasn't a thought in our mind toward God, not in truth,
not in truth. We might have thought, we might
have taken on religion had a God in our imagination that we can
see, but not the true God. But his thoughts were on his
people. Even when we were in darkness, he was thinking on
us. You know why? You know why he
sent his preacher? Look at Galatians 4. His thoughts
were on us that whole time we was in darkness, and he was protecting
us. And here's why he eventually
sent his preacher to us. Galatians 4, look at verse 5. Here's why he did it. He came and redeemed them that
were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. Look, and because you are sons,
that's why he did it. That's why he sent the gospel
to you. He was thinking on you. You didn't know him, but because
you were a child of God, he sent forth the spirit of his son into
our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. He did that for his people because
his thoughts were on it. He predestinated the exact time
when that would happen. Ephesians 1.5 said he predestinated
us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ for Christ to
send the gospel, Christ to intercede with the Father and send the
Holy Spirit, for Christ to regenerate us and be formed in us and give
us an understanding that he might be the wisdom of God to us, that
we might have the mind of Christ, he predestinated us into the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ to God, to be his children. And he did it according to the
good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his
grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. I hear
preachers saying, won't you accept God? God's not up for, it's not
up for debate whether sinners need to accept God. It's whether
God will accept you. And the only way he's gonna accept
this is if he does it all. If his thoughts are on us and
he calls us and gives us faith to trust him. Because you are
sons, you didn't become a son by believing. Because you were
sons, he sent forth the spirit of his son into our hearts so
that we cried, oh my father, my father. Well, right now, every
believer is in the thoughts of God the father and his son Christ
Jesus. Every one of us that he's called,
every one of us that he's given a love in our hearts for him,
we're in his thoughts. And it's like you're the only
child he has. Our children, we can't keep up
with all of them at once. We can't think on multiple children
at one time. God thinks on each of his children
as if you're the only one he's got. And he's got a multitude
no man can number. But that's how big God is. Look
here, Psalm 139, look back there at verse one. We saw this, but
look what he said, O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me.
Thou knowest my down-sitting and my up-rising. Thou understandest
my thought afar off. Thou can pass my path and my
lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. There's not
a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether.
Thou hast beset me behind and before and laid Thy hand upon
me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It's high. I can't attain
unto it. I can't even enter into how vast
His knowledge is. But, oh, I'm comforted by it.
I'm comforted by it. What a comfort. He preserves
us right now because his thoughts are on us and he's gonna keep
us and he's gonna save us to final glory. Paul told the Philippians,
being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun
a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
Brethren, God's holy and God's faithful. God can be trusted. He's promised us you'll never
be ashamed and you'll never be confounded for trusting Him.
Never. And He's holy and He's faithful.
Christ justified us and God's holy. That means God loses more
if He loses one of His people than we lose. That's right, because
His glory is attached to our salvation. He's holy and He justified
His people. That means That means if we perish,
God won't pour out justice a second time. That's double jeopardy.
And God's faithful. He will not be unfaithful toward
his people, so he won't lose one. His thoughts are on us to
keep us. That's comfort right there. I
feel so sorry for folks who are trusting in luck. There's no
such thing as luck. who's thinking, who's all my
lucky stars or whatever other superstitious nonsense men are
trusting in. And it's just a corrupt, depraved
mind to attribute this to anything but God. That's really what a
man's mind is. Just let me say it's a rabbit's
foot, anything but the true and living God. I feel so sorry for
folks that were just blind. This is what the believer's hope
is. David said in Psalm 73, 24, thou shalt guide me with thy
counsel and afterward receive me to glory. That's our hope
right there. He's guiding me with his counsel.
God's grace toward his particular people is personal. He chose
us, he redeemed us, He regenerated us, He's working all things together
for our good daily to preserve us and feed us and teach us,
and He's gonna save us finally. How precious also are thy thoughts
unto me, O God, how great is the sum of them. So let me end
with giving you this. I'm gonna give you a few things
to take home. When trouble comes, when trouble
comes, Number one, remember, God rules the trouble. God rules
the trouble. Amos 3, 6 says, Shall there be
evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it? He's ruling
it. Everything is under His his sovereign
power. Go home and read Isaiah 40. That
same shepherd who leads his little sheep and carries the lambs in
his bosom, held the waters in the palm of his hand, the hollow
of his hand, he sits on the circle of the earth and inhabits there
of his grasshoppers. He raises up kings and puts down
kings. That's our Savior. When God delivered
Israel into Canaan, he left enemies in Canaan on purpose. He said,
I left them there to try you and prove you. not that he needed
proof that they were his, to prove to them that he was their
God and his thoughts were on them and he was the one doing
the saving. That's what he's left enemies for us, to prove
to us he's the savior, he's doing the saving. To teach us not to
trust this sinful flesh. So if an enemy rises up against
you of any kind, just like Pharaoh rose up and took the Lord's people
captive. Know this, the reason that he
has risen up and is afflicting you is because God has done it. God is ruling him so that God
can show his power to save you and so that you'll see his name
and his mercy toward you so that you'll declare that God did the
saving. Listen to what he says, Romans
9, 17. The scripture said to Pharaoh, that means God said
to Pharaoh, for this same purpose have I raised thee up that I
might show my power in thee, that my name might declare throughout
all the earth, verse 23 says, and that he might make known
the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had
aforeprepared unto glory, even us whom he hath called. So when
anybody rises up and troubles you, afflicts you, know God's
doing this to me because his thoughts are on me. He's gonna
show me his great name, his great power to save me, and how rich
his mercy is to me. Number two, when trouble comes,
you remember God is working all things together for the good
of his people. every bit of it, and at some
point in every trial, the Lord's gonna bring his child to say
this. Every time, without fail, he's
gonna bring us to say, it's good for me that I've been afflicted,
that I might learn thy statute. That's Psalm 119.71. Every time,
he's gonna bring you to say, this has been good for me. It's
been good for me. What statutes is he teaching
you? When men hear statues, they run back to the Ten Commandments.
Well, he'll teach you to follow them to the best he will enable
you to do, but you're going to be saved by doing them. But here's
the statute he keeps reminding his people. Believe on my son. Trust my son. Even when you're
in the darkness, when you don't feel, when you feel dead as a
doorknob, when it hurts you, Do you think when Christ was
on that cross suffering darkness, do you think that felt good?
Chastening ain't meant to feel good. Darkness don't ever feel
good. But look at Isaiah 50. What's
his word? We see it again. What's his word
to us when you're in the darkness? Look here. He said before this,
when he was in the darkness, he said, the Lord God will help
me. He stayed upon God, and he tells you now, who is among you,
verse 10, who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth
the voice of his servant? Do you fear the Lord and obey
Christ, trust Christ, believe on him, do you? All right, here's
his word to you. You in darkness, who is it among
you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant,
that walketh in darkness and hath no light? Let him trust
in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God. And here's his
statute too. Don't try to walk in your own
light. He said, behold, all you that kindle a fire that can pass
yourselves about with sparks and walk in the light of your
fire in the sparks you've kindled, that you shall have in my hand,
you'll lay down in sorrow. What does he tell you? When you're
in darkness, you stay upon him. That's the statute we're learning
in every trial. It's simple, brethren. We make
it more complicated than it is. The Lord is working everything
together to continually teach His people, trust Christ, look
to Christ, stay upon Christ, follow Christ, and don't take
your eye off Him. Set your affection on things
above and look to Christ, don't look anywhere else. No matter how you feel, no matter
what the waves look like, whatever, set your heart on Him and stay
on Him. And number two, Here's his statute. You keep loving your brethren.
You keep being merciful to them, being long-suffering to them,
forbearing with them, support them with that love that's of
God. You know what that love is? Commitment.
Don't forsake them. Just like Christ said, I'll never
leave you and I'll never forsake you. You keep helping one another,
do that first commandment, look to Christ. In every trial, he's
gonna bring you to seek. It's been good to me that I've
been affected, that I might learn I need to look to Christ only. And I need to help my brethren
look to Christ. I need to love them. That's what
he's teaching you. All right, here's number three.
The trouble is always to teach us more of Christ. Always teach
us more of him. Listen to Isaiah 40 verse 27. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and
speakest, O Israel, my ways hid from the Lord, and my judgments
passed over from my God? Why do we say that? Why do we
get in the darkness, in the trouble, and say, oh God, you just forgot
me? Go to the back of the ship and
find him asleep and say, you just forgot about us? That's
what we always do. He said, as thou not known, have
you not heard the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of
the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary. There's
no searching of his understanding. He gives power to the faint. To them that have no might, he
increases strength. See, he was waiting on purpose
till you got to the point where you quit trying to save yourself
and you realized, I don't have any power and strength. I'm so
faint I can't save myself. Lord, are you gonna save me?
Now then, you're ready. You're the only one I give power
to, the faint. Tribulations teach us to look
to Him, not this world, not even this body. He's our life. It's to teach us to look to Him
alone, not our wisdom, not our will, not our works. We can't
stop ourselves from catching a cold You think you're gonna
stop yourself from, you're gonna deliver yourself out of these
lesser trials? We can't deliver ourselves out
of them. We certainly can't deliver ourselves
eternally. And he's teaching us Christ is the only one to
look to. The eyes of the Lord are upon
the righteous. His ears are open unto their
cry. His thoughts are on you. Second
Corinthians 1.8. Why did he put Paul in such a
trouble, such trouble, that Paul said, we despaired of life? How'd
he do it? Look here. Speaking by the Spirit
of God, telling us exactly what happened. We would not, brethren,
verse eight, 2 Corinthians 1, we would not, brethren, have
you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia. We were pressed
out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even
of life. God did that on purpose, because
his thoughts was on them. But we had the sentence of death
in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in
God which raiseth the dead, who deliver us from so great a death,
and doth deliver, in whom we trust that he will yet deliver
us. And as I read to you from Romans 8, he's teaching you,
nothing shall ever separate us from the love of God in Christ.
That's what he's always showing you over and over and over. And
here's what he's doing. He rules the darkness so that
when he wakes you up, and that's what happens. It's like you've
been saved. You felt this before. If you've
been in the faith very long, there's times I felt like this
is the first day I really believed him. It's like today I was born
again. And he wakes you up. He renews
you, and it's so that you say right here what our Psalm says,
verse 17, how precious are your thoughts to me, O God. See, you're
gonna praise him at the end of it. Every time, oh Lord, how
precious are your thoughts to me, O God. How great is the sum
of them. If I should count them, they're
more in number than the sand, and when I awake, I've been in
darkness, I've been asleep through all this, I've been looking to
myself, I've been doubting and in unbelief and worried and thinking
that you just don't care about me, and all these thoughts we
have, and now I'm awake again, and I say, I'm still with you.
Nothing ever changed with God. He's just steady as the rock
He is, and me and you are just, we like this, you know, and He
puts His hand back on you, straightens you out, wakes you up, and you
say, oh, I'm still with him. Nothing changed. Nothing changed
with God. Father, we thank you for all
your works. Thank you for the way that you
teach us. We pray for you to search us
and know us and save us from us and lead us in the way of
our last. And then we pine and fret and
sorrow when you do it, send the trouble, and it gets hard to
us. Lord, this is how you teach us. You keep showing us over and
over. You teach us through this tribulation. Lord, thank you
for teaching us to be of good cheer. Thank you for renewing
us to know you've overcome the world. We've overcome it in you. Lord, thank you for delivering
us. Thank you for continuing to deliver us. And Lord, give
us more faith to trust you will yet deliver us. and forgive us,
Lord, for our unbelief. Forgive us for looking to ourselves.
Thank you for thinking on us, Lord. In Christ's name, amen. All right, brother.