We had several messages, several
messages out of the, several messages out of Psalm
104. And today I'm going to try to
give sort of an overview of Psalm 105. These first 16 verses are
the same with David's song in 1 Chronicles 16. Remember he
composed that saying that whenever they brought the ark up to Mount
Zion. And this whole psalm spiritually
as we see it is a picture of Christ who triumphed over all
our enemies and gone into heavenly Mount Zion. And this is our psalm.
This is our song. He may have written the rest
of this psalm after that, but this whole psalm is declaring
God's works in His merciful dealing with Abraham and the children
of Israel up until He delivered them into Canaan. And that's
a picture of the Lord's dealing with His spiritual Israel, bringing
us out of bondage, carrying us through the wilderness, bringing
us to heavenly glory. Now he begins here by declaring,
to whom all praise and to whom all glory belong. This is to
whom all praise and glory belong. He says in verse 1, O give thanks
unto the Lord. Call upon His name, make known
His deeds among the people. Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto
Him, talk ye of all His wondrous works. And that's our gospel. That's our song. We're making
known His deeds among the people. We're declaring all His wonderful
works. This is how the Lord's going
to save His people. He's going to declare His wonderful works. His electing grace, it all began
with God. His predestinating grace, ordering
all things in His covenant. That particular grace by which
Christ came and redeemed us and made His people righteous. He
thankfully called us and overcame us and irresistibly gave us grace
to believe Him. Keeps preserving us, keeps us,
bringing us this whole way through the wilderness. One day He'll
resurrect our bodies. He'll bring us in spirit to be
with Him and He'll resurrect our bodies. He'll glorify us
together with Him, make us enter into the eternal inheritance.
all His works, beginning to end the works of our Lord. Make known
His works, make known His deeds among the people. And look at
verse 3, glory ye in His holy name. Let the heart of them rejoice
that seek the Lord. It's His holy name by which we're
saved. Our holy God, holy God has made
Himself known to us. He's made us know His name, revealed
Himself in the person of His dear Son. So that we behold Him
and we know His name, we call upon His name. He's made our
hearts rejoice. You that seek the Lord. He said
in verse 4, seek the Lord in His strength. And that's truly
what we're seeking, isn't it? We're seeking the Lord in His
strength. Seek His face forevermore. His
strength is His countenance, His favor, His grace, His power,
His wisdom toward His people. Remember His marvelous works
that He hath done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth."
Everything our Lord has done are wonders. We see these wonders
He worked in Israel and the things He did for them, and I know that
we think these things are wonderful. They are, they are wonders. But
brethren, the wonders of salvation by His grace They're more wonderful
than the things even that he wrote in creation and physically
and the things he did for Israel. These are wonders, wonders of
His grace. The judgments of His mouth, we're
going to see something about that. Everything that our Lord
speaks to us are His judgments. He said, O ye seed of Abraham,
His servant, ye children of Jacob, His chosen. He's the Lord our
God. His judgments are in all the
earth. If we're born of God and we believe the Lord Jesus and
He's all our salvation, you're a child of Abraham. You're a
child of Abraham. You're a chosen child of God
just like Jacob was chosen of God. Jacob have I loved, Esau
have I hated. He had done no works, neither
good or bad. And he said, Jacob have I loved.
Why? That the purpose of God according to election might stand.
It's not of works, it's of God that calls. It's of God that
calls. So he begins here where it all
began, his covenant. He said in verse 8, He hath remembered
his covenant forever, the word which he commanded to a thousand
generations, which covenant he made with Abraham and his oath
unto Isaac." Now, I know some think that this covenant is speaking
about the law given at Sinai, but he's talking here about his
covenant of grace. He's talking about the everlasting
covenant of grace. Go over to see there where he
says, he's remembered his covenant forever. the word which he commanded
to a thousand generations, which covenant he made with Abraham
and his oath unto Isaac. Let's go to Galatians 3. I love
the repetition of the scriptures. We've seen this in the Psalms,
all of these things in the Psalms. We've seen them in Exodus. And
the Lord just keeps reminding us over and over and over because
this is what we need. This is how He's going to save
His people. rehearsing His mighty works. But this covenant He's
talking about is the covenant of grace. It's the promise of
salvation by grace, by the works of our Lord Jesus, by His doing,
by His righteousness, given to us through faith in Him, through
God giving us faith to trust Him. Look here in Galatians 3.15,
Brethren, I speak after the manner of men, though it be but a man's
covenant, Yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth or addeth
thereto. We know this in just covenants
we make. If it's confirmed, no man can
add to it or disannull it. Now to Abraham and his seed where
the promise is made. This is the same law he's talking
about in our text, the covenant he made with Abraham. To Abraham
and his seed were the promises made. He said not, and to seeds
as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ.
That's who the covenant was made with. It was Christ and the covenant
that our Lord made with Abraham was this covenant. It was this
everlasting covenant. Now this I say now, the covenant
that was confirmed before of God in Christ, confirmed before
of God in Christ, the law which was 430 years after that, The law at Sinai was 430 years
after this covenant was made with Abraham. It cannot disannul. It cannot make the promise of
no effect. Aren't we thankful for that?
Why can it not? Because if the inheritance is
of the law, if it's of your doing, it's no more of promise. It's
no more of promise. But God gave it to Abraham by
promise. He didn't have the law of Sinai.
He didn't have He didn't have what most men say is the believer's
rule of life, but he did have the rule of life. He had God's
covenant promise and he had God. He had the Spirit of God. Why
then was the law given? Wherefore then serves the law?
It was added because of transgressions. It was given to teach us our
sin until Christ came, till the seed should come to whom the
promise was made. And it was ordained by angels
in the hand of a mediator, But Moses couldn't be that mediator
because a mediator is not of one. Moses was a sinner like
us and he needed a mediator. But God is one. But is the law
then against those promises? When he gave that law at Sinai,
is it against the promises of God? God forbid. If there had
been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness
should have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded
all under sin. That's why the law was given.
To show us that this promise, this covenant, this salvation
God's promised, is by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. It's by what
He's accomplished. He came and fulfilled that law
given at Sinai. He came and fulfilled it. He
took us from under that curse we committed, or we fell under,
in Adam. That's what He came for. That's
why He went to the cross and was made a curse for His people. And this promise is given to
them that believe Him. You believe on the righteousness,
you believe Him, and the righteousness Christ has established is imputed
to His people. He made us righteous by His works.
And so He says, but before that faith came, we were kept under
the law, we were shut up unto the faith which should afterwards
be revealed. So the law was a schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
But after that faith has come, we're no longer under the schoolmaster.
You're all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. You
believe on Christ, you are the children of God. This is by faith
in Christ Jesus. As many as you've been baptized
into Christ have put on Christ. There's neither Jew nor Greek,
there's neither bond nor free, there's neither male nor female.
Christ has taken away the carnal distinctions that we use to exalt
ourselves and distinguish ourselves. That's what you see going on
in the world. Everybody is more righteous than everybody else
because of some distinguishing factor that each thinks they
have better than the other one. That's basically what it is.
And the Lord has taken that away from us. He came and made His
people all one in Him by His righteousness alone. And He says,
That's what he said, for you're all one in Christ Jesus. And
if you're Christ, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according
to the promise. Now go back over here to Psalm
105. So this is what he's talking about. He said he confirmed this,
he confirmed this to Abraham and he remembered it and he does
remember it forever. It is the everlasting covenant.
Same covenant he made with Abraham, same oath he promised to Isaac.
Now look, he confirmed the same unto Jacob. for a law and to
Israel for an everlasting covenant, saying unto thee, Will I give
the land of Canaan the lot of your inheritance? They were just
a few in number, yea, very few. They were strangers in the land.
He said to us this wasn't because of anything in them. This wasn't
because there were mightier nations. with more impressive and mightier
people and larger populations. He chose Abraham and chose Isaac
and chose Jacob and chose Israel, and that's how he saves his people. And when they went from one nation
to another, from one kingdom to another people, he suffered
no man to do them wrong. Yea, he reproved kings for their
sake, saying, Touch not mine anointed, do my prophets no harm.
You see, before and after Christ came, Before and after God gave
the law at Sinai, God's people have always been saved one way,
by the everlasting covenant of grace, by the faithfulness, by
the works of our Lord Jesus, by Him giving us faith to trust
Him to save us beginning to end. We're strangers in this world,
just like they were, and we're trusting the Lord to take us
through this land, just like they were, and protect us. And this is what He promises
His people that He will do. He says, Touch not mine anointed,
do my prophets no harm. This is speaking of all His people.
God may permit men to do various things to us. We're going to
see that here in just a minute. He may permit men to do things
to us that we would, carnally speaking, say harms us. God will not permit anybody to
harm His people. It's not harming His people.
It's not harming His people. Some think a believer won't ever
suffer in the world. You'll never suffer. You'll never
have any trouble. And you know that's not so. The
Lord, look at this next word. The Lord sent a famine to Israel. This was His people. He had elect
among that nation. He sent a famine to them. He sent a famine. You reckon
there was anybody in the land who had a little bit of food
and they just kept it for themselves and wouldn't let God's elect
have it? You think that did them harm? It didn't do them any harm.
They might have been hungry, but God provided. God provided. He sent them down to Egypt because
it was His will. Look here in verse 16. Moreover,
He called for a famine upon the land. He broke the whole staff
of bread. God did that. Well, God must
have been done with Israel. He must have been throwing them
out, casting them out forever. Well, that's what we'd judge
if we just looked at God sending a famine. But He didn't just
send them the famine. He didn't just work this by His
providence. He gave them His Word. He gave
them His Word. He told Abraham back there when
He made the covenant, He told Abraham, that Abraham's offspring
were going to be slaves in Egypt. God told him that. So how did
God bring that to pass? He sent a famine. He sent a famine. But not just His hand of providence
sending a famine, He sent His Word and He said, Fear not, Jacob,
to go down into Egypt. To go down into Egypt. He is
teaching us in spirit not to fear man. not to fear God's providence. God's providence is working for
His people, not against us. He's teaching us not to fear
the devil. He's teaching us to trust God, fear God, look to
Him, trust Him, believe Him. Faith believes God. We saw the
other night, like Abraham saw what God said to Abraham, I'm
your shield. I'm your shield. I'm your exceeding
great reward. That's what faith believes. God
is my only salvation. He's my only protector. He's
my only refuge. He's my only help in trouble.
And He is my exceeding great reward. Everything I need, He
provides. And that's what faith is trusting.
He will fight for His people. But here's the good news. Now
look at this. All that was where it began.
It began in eternity with God's covenant to Christ and what He
would do with Christ. And then a famine came. Then
a famine came. and they went into Egypt, and
they're going to end up in slavery in Egypt. But look at this, before
that happened, God provided a Savior. Look at verse 17, He sent a man
before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant. This
came to pass before He told Jacob to go down there. This came to
pass before, remember, before He told Jacob and his sons to
go to Egypt for bread. Before this ever happened, He
sent Joseph in Egypt. Joseph is a type of Christ, and
before God... God had made this covenant in
Christ in eternity, just like we read in Galatians 3, to bless
His people with all spiritual blessing. He chose His people
in Christ. Christ entered the covenant to save His people,
and God promised to bless His people with all spiritual blessing.
And then a famine came. We fell in Adam. Adam sinned. We fell in Him. Was that famine
God sent to Israel, was that God's will? Was that God's purpose?
Was God ordering everything that took place when that famine came?
Sure He was. So He was in the garden. So He
was when Adam sinned and plunged us all into sin and death. But before He ever did that,
God provided Joseph. He provided our Joseph, the Lord
Jesus. And when Joseph came into the
land, what was his reception? When he went into Egypt, he went
there as a servant. He went there as a servant. It
started by him being rejected by his brethren, throwing him
in a pit. Then they sold him into slavery
and they carried him down into Egypt. He gets down there in
Egypt. And Potiphar's wife lied on him
and he was thrown in prison. He was thrown in prison. They
hurt him. Look here, verse 17. He sent
a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant, whose
feet they hurt with fetters. He was laid in iron. He was laid
in iron. Christ Jesus came into this world
a servant of God. Just like Joseph went into Egypt
a servant. Christ willingly, willingly came
into this earth a servant of God. And how was He received? We despised Him. We rejected
Him. We saw nothing good in Him. No form of comeliness about Him.
We called him everything under the sun and we rejected him.
And eventually we bound him. We bound him to a cursed tree.
To a cursed tree. Rejecting him. Christ taught
us, brethren, not to expect anything less. He teaches His children,
don't expect anything less than how the world treated Him. how the world treated our Lord.
Servants not greater than His Lord. And He said, if they reject
Me, they'll reject you. If they receive My Word, they'll
receive you. But Joseph's suffering, what
was it? Why was Joseph sent there suffering?
He had the Word of the Lord. Why did Joseph, as the man, Joseph,
why did he have to suffer all that, that he went through? Verse
19, until the time that his word came, the word of the Lord tried
him. That's what was taking place.
Joseph believed God. He believed the everlasting covenant
of grace, by God's grace. Joseph believed his salvation
was in the coming Messiah. He saw Christ by faith and believed
Christ was all his salvation. So God made Joseph's brethren
reject him. Strange thing, huh? God put Joseph into the hands
of slave traders, took him down there to Egypt, and he ends up
in prison. What's going on with Joseph?
Why is he suffering? Why is he suffering? God said,
He said, Touch not mine anointed, do my prophets no harm. Does
that mean God's people aren't going to suffer? No. But they're not going to be harmed.
Not going to be harmed. This was all for Joseph's spiritual
good. What was happening? What was
happening? He had one thing. Joseph had
one thing. And that's all he needed. He
had the Word of God. He had the promise of God who
cannot lie. That's what he had. And he believed
Him. He believed God. And so God sent
him there. And put Him in all of that, and
in all that suffering, the Lord was proving that Joseph really
believed in Him. He was proving Joseph really
believed in Him. The Word of the Lord was trying
Joseph. Our Lord Jesus came into this
world, and all the things that He suffered, all the things that
He suffered was the Word of the Lord trying Him. That's what
it was, the Word of the Lord trying him. He had entered covenant
to serve God perfectly for his people, to make us righteous.
And the Word of the Lord was trying our Lord Jesus. Scripture
speaks of him being put in a furnace, heated seven times. That means
he was put into perfect suffering. Suffering like you and I can't
even imagine. Joseph's suffering, it was really bad, but his suffering
pales in comparison to what Christ suffered. What was that? It was the word
of the Lord trying him. And what did the word of the
Lord prove? It proved Christ to be the faithful
one. Joseph sinned when he was down
there in Egypt. Christ didn't. Christ didn't. Our Lord Jesus was proven the
Faithful One, the One Promised Messiah, the One Righteousness
of God, the One Holiness of God, the Amen, the Faithful, the One
who is the Salvation of His people. Remember He said in John 14,
He said, Satan comes and has nothing in me. Me and you can't
say that. We just can't say that. Our Lord
said that and He proved it. The devil came and had nothing
in him. Just think, if the devil offered
you all the kingdoms in the world, showed you all the kingdoms of
the world, there have been some rich kingdoms in this world,
showed you all the kingdoms in the world in one instant, and
said, I'll give this to you. You know what you do, don't you?
We do it for far less. But Christ's keeping you, you
want, but that's what we do. But our Lord Jesus said, get
thee hence. He believed the Word of God.
He trusted God. That's the one faith by which
his people are saved. That's what he meant by the faith
of Jesus Christ. It's that faithfulness. It's
that faithfulness. And that wasn't even the ultimate
trying. The ultimate trying was when
he went to Calvary's Cross. And with the sin of his people
on him, God would not answer him. And God withdrew from him.
And his people forsook him. And those only ones that were
around him were those that were just spewing venom on him and
the devil throwing everything he could at him. And our Lord
never stopped looking to God the Father. That's the righteousness. That's the obedience. That's
that one obedience by which His people are made righteous. And
when God gives us faith in Christ, far less, far far less, but to
a degree, and we can be certain of this, the Word of the Lord
will try us. The Word of the Lord will try
us the rest of our days on this earth. Does that mean we're going
to suffer? Absolutely. Absolutely. It's what we saw Thursday night,
and we'll see it again in John when the Lord said, in the world
you shall have tribulation. The Word of the Lord is going
to try us. We're going to suffer. But we're going to find Our peace
is not in anything we see. It's not in anything we do. It's
not in us, above us at all. It's Christ. He said, but be
of good cheer. I have overcome the world. In
perfect tribulation, He overcame the world. And His people did
in Him. And He said, in me is where your
peace is found. That's what the word of the Lord
is trying His people. And by that faithfulness of Christ,
by His Spirit working in you, You're going to pass the test
if you're His, because you're going to keep looking to Christ. And that's how we're going to
be saved. But the Word of the Lord will try us. It's God proving
that He alone sustains life and faith in His child, that He alone
keeps us believing and trusting the Lord to save us. It's certain. It's absolutely certain. Then
the word of the Lord came and they loosed Joseph and they let
him go free and made him ruler over all the people. Look at
verse 20. The king sent and loosed him. even the ruler of the people
and let him go free. He made him lord of his house
and ruler of all his substance to bind his princes at his pleasure
and teach his senators wisdom." Now there was never any possibility
concerning Joseph the man that this wouldn't happen because
God sent him there for this purpose. And God brought it to pass according
to his purpose. He put it in the heart of Pharaoh
and gave Pharaoh a dream and Joseph was the only one who could
tell him the interpretation of it. And so he ended up making
Joseph to be ruler over the whole land of Egypt. Put him over all
the storehouses and Joseph provided the corn and all that they needed
for when the famine came so that they all, and Pharaoh said, go
to Joseph and whatever you need, go to him. And this is what,
after our Lord suffered on the cross, And he perfected his people
forever by that offering he made, that one offering. God loosed
him. He came out of that grave because
he conquered it. He conquered all the enemies
of his people and he went to the throne of God and he sat
down at God's right hand. and He is the bread, and He has
the storehouse at His disposal, and He is sending the bread of
this gospel, and He's calling His people. We're in the famine
by nature, and He's sending the Word, and He's giving us the
bread, and He's giving us life, and it's Him who binds His senators. It's Him who teaches His princes
at His pleasure and teaches us wisdom. He has made His people
kings under God by His blood. This is the law we are under.
It is the Word of our Lord. It is the gospel of His grace. It is His keeping power. It is
seeing His holy name and His wonderful works and knowing He
is ruling everything and doing everything just for His people
in this world. And when the Lord did all this
for Joseph, you know what Joseph did? He gave God all the glory. He said to His brethren, you
meant it for evil, God meant it for good. You know what the
Lord Jesus teaches you and me? When we have rejected Christ,
failed and fumbled, He teaches us that very thing, you meant
it for evil, but God meant it for good. To save much people this day
alive, to bring you to trust Him, to show you He's your only
salvation. And that's what happened to Christ,
and that's what He teaches us now. And when the Lord finished
redeeming His people, He went there. He went to God's right
hand, He sat down, and He's working all this now in His people. And
God increased His people. Look there in verse 23. Israel
also came into Egypt, and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham,
and He increased His people greatly and made them stronger than their
enemies. That's what Christ's doing for His church right now.
He's increasing his church, he's making his people stronger than
our enemies. See, they were in this famine,
and what did God tell them? He said, don't fear to go down
into Egypt, go to Joseph. And they went to Joseph. And
when they went there, God increased them. He increased them. Now
notice, notice here, by God doing this, by Him increasing them,
and making them stronger than their enemies, their enemies
hated Him. hated His people. Verse 25, He turned their heart
to hate His people, to deal subtly with His servants. Who did it? Who turned the heart
of the people to hate Him? Who turned the heart of the Egyptians
to hate His people? God did. God did it. When our Savior suffered in this
world, He promises people that will suffer, and it's not by
accident. It's not merely the enemy doing
it. It's God doing it. It's God doing it. He makes this
unregenerate world hate His people and makes some deal in subtlety
against His people. Why does He do that? It's how
Christ teaches His people to trust Him. It's the Word of the
Lord trying His people, teaching His people to trust Him. If they
persecute me, He said, they'll persecute you. So if you're suffering,
if anybody is judging you and condemning you, and they won't
be merciful to you, castigating you. It's not that you're not
without sin. Those that are doing it are full
of sin. And so are you. None of us are without sin. But
it's not by accident. God put them there. God put them
there. And he's teaching us to trust
him and obey his statutes. Go up into Matthew 5. One, if it's a professing believer,
and sometimes it is, sometimes it is, he's teaching you not
to doubt him. He's teaching you to trust him
to the Lord. Because the Lord's the only one that can make you
stand. The Lord's the only one that can make them stand. He
teaches you to pray for him. And if it's enemies, He's reminding
you, teaching you. He sent them. He sent them. You don't have to try to entangle
them. You don't have to try to do anything
to them. But watch this. Verse 38. You heard it's been said, an
eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. That's justice. That's what justice demands.
You just pour out justice. Kill them. Kill them. Whatever
they've done, you do it to them. Kill them. That's justice. That's
no mercy. That's justice. But I say to you that you resist
not evil. But whosoever shall smite thee
on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. You done this? Perfectly? You gonna stand before
God in it? Not hardly. Not hardly. But when He shows you what you
are and shows you what you have done to Christ to put Him on
that cross, that's when He will break your heart and you will
stop wanting an eye for an eye. You know what malice is? It's
wanting to see your enemy fall. And it's relishing their fall
and their suffering. Resist not evil. Whosoever shall
smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And
if any man will sue thee at law to take away thy coat, let him
have your cloak also. Don't just give him what he asks
for. Give him more than he asks for. Give him above and beyond
what he asks for. And whosoever shall compel thee
to go a mile, go with him too. Give to him that asketh thee. Does that mean whatever He asks
you? Whatever He asks you. It means whatever He asks you.
Whatever He asks you. Mercy. Forgiveness. Or if He asks for all your house,
give it to Him. And from Him that would borrow
of thee, turn not thou away. You've heard it's been said,
Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy. I say to
you, love your enemies. Bless them that curse you. Bless
them that curse. Do good to them that hate you.
Pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. That
you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven. Why? Because He makes the sun to rise
on the evil and on the good. He sends rain on the just and
the unjust. For if you love them which love
you, what reward have you? The publicans do that. If you
salute your brethren only, what do you more than others? The
publicans do that. Be ye therefore perfect, even
as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Christ is using every
opposition we face to teach us to treat others like we want
to be treated. And when he teaches us this,
it's knowing this. I'm going to fail at that. And
you're going to fail at that. What do you do when there's utter
failure before you? Treat them like you want to be
treated when you utterly fail. Now, if you don't know what a
sinner you are, you won't do that. If you don't know what
a sinner you are, when people ask for mercy, you'll stare at
them like a calf staring at a new gate. Condemn not that you be not condemned,
for with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged. When we behold how far short
we have come, so that there's no other option
for us but to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we'll be merciful. We'll be merciful. Because not one of His saints
has ever done anything our Lord commanded us as we ought to. We can't put any confidence in
ourselves. All our confidence has to be
Christ only. So if you're in any hunger, feed Him. If you're
thirsty, give Him a drink. In doing so, you will warm Him. You'll warm Him up. When He's
cold, you'll warm Him. You'll provide for Him. You'll
provide for Him. Believe on Christ. He's the only
deliverer of His people. He's the only deliverer. All
those judgments, we'll look at this another time, but those
judgments, that's what Christ bore for us on the cross. Put
it away. Put it away. But if we won't
be merciful, if we're going to insist on justice, that's what
Pharaoh and the Egyptians insisted on. And that's what God gave
them. That's what God gave them. He comes down to the end. He
says, God saved us to keep these statutes. He's not talking about
the law. We can't keep it. It takes faith
in Christ to know He's working everything. One, that He's all
your righteousness. Or else you would just fall away
when He shows you you sin. You'd fall away. You wouldn't
continue believing because you couldn't. You wouldn't have any
hope. So number one, faith in Him that
He is all your righteousness. But number two, it takes faith
in Him knowing that everything He's doing in this world, He's
doing it for us. To be able to not take matters
into your own hands and trust Him. And when you do, and you
will, and you have, go to Him for mercy, and He'll give you
mercy. And when your brethren do the same, be merciful to them
and love them to Christ, because that's all you can do, and that's
all you will do. That is all you can do if you're
His, because when He teaches you this and reminds you of this,
you see what a failure you've been. And that's what you'll
do. That's what you'll do. We'll look at the rest of that
another time. Father, thank You for this Word. Thank You for
Your mercy. Lord, how we thank You that these
works from beginning to end are all of You, accomplished by You.
We can rest in You and trust You. Forgive us, Lord. We are so wicked, and our flesh
is just wickedness. Lord, we don't ask You to do anything but have mercy on
us and save us from us and our sin. And Lord, make us to have such faith in You that we
can truly look to You and trust You. Be gracious and be merciful. And forgive us, Lord. If we're saved, it's going to
be by your faithfulness alone. It's going to be by your everlasting
promise, refusing to go back on your promise despite us. And it's going to be for the
sake of Christ. Lord, you've made us know this. We thank you. And we ask You now for His sake,
Lord, please hear our prayer and continue to grant us Your
presence and keep us. Amen.