Our text tonight is going to
be Psalm 4 and verse 6. I jotted down two outlines some
time ago from two preachers from the past and I was reading over
those outlines and I was blessed in my heart by them and I started
taking some of each one of them and put them together to use
in this message. really ended up with two messages. So Lord willing, Sunday morning
our message is going to concentrate on the light of thy countenance. What that is and what it means
and what it does. Tonight we're going to focus
on two cries, two answers and one reason. Psalm 4 verse 6. There be many that say, who will
show us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light
of thy countenance upon us. And here are two, two crimes. They're two very different crimes. From two very different places. For two very different things. With two very different answers. There be many that say who will
show us any good. That's the first cry. Let's consider
this first cry and the answer to this cry. This is the cry
of the majority. There be many. There'll be many
who say this. We just go through the Psalms,
and I've showed you when we go through the Psalms, you want
to first read these Psalms with an eye towards the Lord Jesus
Christ, and see the Lord Jesus Christ speaking with the Father,
the Mediator speaking with the Father. And if we just go through
Psalms, we see that there are many, the majority, who are enemies
against the Lord, enmity against Him. Psalm 3.1, Lord, how are
they increased that trouble me? Many are they that rise up against
me. Many there be which say of my
soul, there's no help for him in God. Psalm 22.12 says, Many
bulls have compassed me. Strong bulls of Bashan have beset
me round. Psalm 25.19 says, Consider mine
enemies, for they are many, and they that hate me with cruel
hatred. Psalm 31, 13, he says, I've heard
the slander of many. Fear was on every side. While they took counsel together
against me, they devised to take away my life. Those are the words
of our Redeemer. Those are the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We could go on and read many more examples just
in the Psalms of that, but this is the point. Our Lord said that
He said to us, enter in at the straight gate. He's the straight
gate. He said, wide is the gate and
broad is the way that leads to destruction and many there be
that go in that gate. Many. And because there are many
that are enemies against the Lord, there are many afflictions
of the righteous. We have many afflictions. Psalm 34 19 says, many are the
afflictions of the righteous. Because there's many enemies
of those that our Lord has made righteous. But sadly, because
we got so many afflictions in this flesh, because of what this
flesh is, there's many enemies in our flesh, many enemies in
our flesh. But That same verse says, but
the Lord delivereth him out of them all. The Lord alone delivers
the righteous out of all our affliction. It's the grace of
God for Christ's sake. It's the grace of God for Christ's
sake to deliver us even when we're in our unbelief and we're
weary and we're ready to despair. It's His grace for the sake of
Christ that He does it. Well, what's the characteristic
of this first cry? I wish this wasn't the cry of
anybody here, but it is. It is the cry of some here. And
it's the cry of every believer at one time or another. And so,
so be sure to listen to this and see, you listen and see,
see if these are the characteristics of your cry. And after you hear
this, after you hear this first cry and the answer to this first
cry, pay very close attention to this second cry and the answer
to the second cry. Here's the characteristic of
this cry. It's a cry of unbelief and doubt.
Look at verse 6. There be many that say, who will? Who will? This is not the cry
of faith. It's not the cry to the Lord,
but it's the cry of who? Who? And it's not the cry of
a submissive heart to the will of God. It's the cry of who will? Will man? Will man, will anything
in this earth or anything in this flesh bring us any good? When was the will of man, let
me ask you that, when has the will of man, when has man ever,
ever brought satisfaction, peace to the heart of another man or
to God? The only man that ever did that
is the God man. God sent his own son to do that.
And he alone is the one who brought satisfaction to God, made satisfaction
to God for his people. And he's the only one who could
bring this peace and satisfaction into our heart. The will of man
is want, and it's the want of something that's completely,
totally opposite to the will of God. Our thoughts are not
His thoughts and our ways are not His ways. And our will always
ends up in just us more wanting. That's all it ever ends up in.
This is what the psalmist said. Surely every man walketh in a
vain show. Surely they are disquieted. And
that word means they murmur and they roar in vain. He heapeth up riches, and knoweth
not who shall gather them. He said in Psalm 60, 11, Vain
is the help of man. Just vanity. Well, next we see
this is a cry for the senses or a cry of the senses. It's
a cry for the senses to be satisfied. It's a sensual cry. Look at verse
6. Who will show us? Who will show
us? The world. and all the carnal
desires of the flesh has to be shown. We have to be shown something.
We want to see something before we can be satisfied with it.
Over in Matthew 12, 38, there were certain scribes, folks who
had the Word of God, certain Pharisees, folks who claimed
to believe God and claimed to worship the true and living God.
And they came around the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God
in human flesh. They came to Him and they said,
we would see a sign from you If you'd show us something, we'd
see something from you." And he answered, and an evil and
an adulterous generation seeks after a sign. And he said, and
there won't be any sign given but the sign of the prophet Jonah.
As Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly,
so shall the Son of Man, our substitute, so shall He be, three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth. You think
what he said. Think what the Lord said. Is
the Word of God not enough? Is the Word made flesh not enough? Is Christ Jesus going to the
cross and laying down His life in the room instead of His people,
in the room instead of you who have been made to know Him? Is
He not enough? Is His empty tomb not enough? Is His ascension to the Father
seated at the right hand of the Father, is that not enough? That's the only sign that's going
to be given. The only sign that's going to be given. Look over
at John 20. John 20. Oh, we're so much like Thomas.
Look at John 20. Verse 24, this is after our Lord
had been crucified and risen from the dead, and He went to
His disciples and showed Himself to them. But Thomas, verse 24,
one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus
came. And the other disciples therefore said unto him, We've
seen the Lord. We've seen Him. But he said unto
them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails,
and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand
into his side, I will not believe. So the Lord just cast him off.
Now the Lord had just paid for that sin. The Lord just paid
for that sin. All that sin of his unbelief.
Every bit of it. And the Lord, after eight days
again, He came to His disciples. And Thomas was with them this
time. Then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the
midst and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith He to Thomas. He knew what Thomas had said,
didn't He? He knows. He knows. He knows what our thoughts
are. He knows what we need, though.
And he said to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold
my hands. Reach hither thy hand, and thrust
it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered
and said unto him, My Lord and my God. You know what it doesn't
say? It doesn't say that Thomas reached
forth his hands and touched him, does it? But with that Word of
the Lord, it says, Thomas said, My Lord and my God. That's what we need. We need
the Word. We need Him speaking to us in our heart. And Jesus
said unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast
believed. Blessed are they that have not
seen and yet have believed. You see, it's God's grace not
to allow His child to walk by sight, but to make us walk by
faith. It's His grace. Because by faith,
we see the King and all His beauty. By faith, we see things that
are reality. By faith, we see the riches of
Christ our righteousness. We see the inheritance reserved
in heaven that will not ever be taken away from us for any
reason. Not even for our doubting and
our fears and our unbelief. Not for one for whom Christ died.
He died for that sin as much as He died for every other sin.
And He put them away. He put it away. And He won't
allow us to be turned from Him. He will bring us to see the true
unsearchable riches that He is to us. And though we may not
see it with our natural eye, by faith He brings us to know
all things really are ours. Everything is ours. That's great
grace. That's great grace for God to
make His child walk by faith and not by sight because our
flesh desires only that which is visible. Who will show us? Who will show us? Here's another
characteristic of this cry in our text, verse 6. It's a cry
of one that's not discriminating, has no discriminating discernment.
Only doubt and bitterness. Look at verse 6. Who will show
us any good? Who will show us any good? Now
the word any, you can see it's italicized, it's added by the
translators. But it's true that the unregenerate
man, he's just looking for any good. Any. It doesn't matter,
just any. Just any. The believer's not
crying for just any good. The believer cries for the good. For the true and living God. For the Lord, our righteousness. For His presence. That's what
we're crying out for. That's what we desire. Not just
any. And because we've seen this good
and heard this good and know this good in the heart, it's
not any other good that'll do. No other good will do. We're
not, we're not, the flesh, brethren, is desperate. The flesh is just
desperate. It's like, it's like saying,
what's the use? Who's gonna show us any good?
That's the flesh. That's, that's my flesh. That's
your flesh. That's your flesh. That's mine. When we've tried every brand
of everything, we'll be left just as empty, just as void,
just as unhappy, just as unholy, just as unrighteous, just as
sad and sorrowful. The Lord said, there is none
good. That's what God said, there is
none good. Why then would we keep trying
to find good where God says we won't ever find it? Why would
we keep looking here below and trying to find any good? Why
would we keep looking at ourselves and try to find any good? Why
would we try to lean to our own understanding and think we're
going to find any good there? When God says, you won't. You're
just not going to find any good there. It doesn't matter if you're
looking to wine, women, and song. It doesn't matter if you're looking
at churches, creeds, and confessions. It don't matter if you're looking
to the riches of youth, self-righteousness, or money. It don't matter. You
won't find any happiness there. We won't find any happiness there
at all. Have we yet? Have you yet found
any happiness there, any contentment, any joy, any rejoicing? Men end
up going from church to church, from business to business, from
vanity to vanity, always finding something wrong and never satisfied. Always looking for the happiness
and the satisfaction and the contentment and the rest and
the joy and the peace where it's not to be found. Next, look at this cry. Well,
before we go further, let's look at the answer to this cry. Look
at verse two. O ye sons of men, how long will
you turn my glory into shame? How long will you love vanity
and seek after leasing? That's lies and falsehood. You see the cry of the flesh. Look into our flesh. It turns
the glory of God into shame. You know what the glory of the
Lord is? The glory of the Lord is to provide everything for
His people. Everything. All wisdom, all righteousness,
all holiness, all deliverance from sin and self and this world,
everything. And when we turn from Him to
our thoughts and our ways and our wisdom, we turn His glory
into shame. That's what we do. That's all
our flesh is capable of doing. That's all mine's capable of
doing. That's all yours is capable of doing. At this time, you may
have got some of these, but at the end of the year, I'm on a
lot of mailing lists with religious folks. So at the end of the year,
you get all these, I got tons of emails, tons of emails from
churches, churches saying how much good they had done and all
the works they had done all through the year and begging and asking,
won't you send us some money? You only got a few days left.
If you want to write it off your taxes, send it to us now. Who
will show us any good? That's just murmuring and turning
God's glory into shame. He don't need our bake sale. He don't need our going around
and trying to raise money. He don't need that. He owns a
cattle on a thousand hills. He said, if I was hungry, I wouldn't
ask you. If I needed anything, I wouldn't. Did he? He didn't
ask us for anything. He came and sent forth the full
provision of His Son. Why would He ask me and you for
anything? There's nothing in us to give to Him. He's the solitary,
all-sufficient, all-glorious God. Why would He ask us for
anything? He puts in the heart what He'll
have given to Him, and we only give Him what He's given to us.
And we don't have to go begging. You see here it says, verse four,
this is why it's such a shameful thing. It's seeking vanity and
lies. You know what God's saying to
us here? How long will you look to broken cisterns? How long will you look to just
broken pots that don't hold any water at all and expect to, as
if you're looking to the fountains of living waters? Whenever we
were down there over the holidays we were down there and I was
telling you about I was around a baby. Every now and then I'd
look over there and that baby would be fretting, you know,
like I told you. And that baby would pick up a
toy. He'd pick up a shoe. He'd pick up his blanket. And
the one that illustrates it best is he would take his own hand
and start Trying to gnaw on it and suck on it. Because he was
hungry. And it never did fill him. Only the milk from another filled
him. Isn't that what we do? We turn
and try to get food out of a rock? Try to get bread out of dirt? Try to get water out of the dust.
Won't happen. Look at Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55. I just read this to you. Oh,
and look. What I wanted you to see in this
is after it says his visage was marred more than any man. After
it said, but he was wounded for our transgression. After it said
by his wounding, by his bruise, he healed his people. After it
says by his wounding and his bruise, he satisfied God. He justified his people from
their sin. After God said, I've given him
a portion with the great, with God Almighty, I've given that
to him. He's risen and at the right hand of the Father. And
He says, and He will divide the spoiled with the strong. And
that whole 54th chapter, He says, now, you sing and you spread
forth your stakes and your tents wide. Because He said, you're
not going to be ashamed and confounded. Folks might rise up against you,
but they're not going to conquer you. He said, I created the waster
to destroy. He said, the inheritance of my
people is my righteousness. It's their inheritance. I'm giving
it to them. Everything that's right. What's
right? You and I don't know what's right.
God does. He said, I'm giving them. He's
given us the righteousness of Christ. And He said, I'm giving
them that which is right. He'll give us that which is right
in this world. And he says this to us in verse,
chapter 55. Oh, everyone that's thirsty,
come ye to the waters. That's Christ. He that hath no
money, come ye buy and eat. Yea, come buy wine and milk without
money and without price. Wherefore do you spend money
for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which
satisfies not? Hearken diligently unto me. See that unto me. Look, hear. Hear. It's not going to come
through the sight. It's going to come through the
hearing. The satisfaction is not going to come through your
carnal eye. It's going to come through the
hearing. He said, hear. Hear my word. And your soul shall
live. You see that? That's much better
than our flesh living. Your soul shall live. And I'll
make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sheer mercies
of Christ Jesus, my King. I've given him for a witness
to the people, a leader and commander of the people. That's where he
says come to. Well, that's the characteristics
of the fleshly cry. Now let's see this second cry
and let's hear the answer he gives to that cry, to the second
cry. If that other cry is the cry
of the meaning, This is the cry of the few in the midst of the
many. The sons of God, the elect of
God, those that are called of God, they are a little flock.
They are a remnant in the midst of many. And surely the inward
man created of the Lord, of the Spirit of God, is little in the
midst of these many enemies of our flesh. Very little. What's
the characteristic of the cry of God's regenerate child of
grace, of the inward man of the heart? Well, it's not a shout
in the darkness. It's not a cry of unbelief. It's a cry of faith. Look, it's
not who will. Look at verse six. It's Lord. It's Lord. You know, our faith
very often turns to murmuring. Murmuring. We call it a lot of
different things, but it's murmuring. That's what it is. Who's going
to furnish us a table in the wilderness? Who's going to show
us any good? It's murmuring. That's what it
is. Who's going to make us see that we're safe when we don't see the prosperity?
That's what we do. We see prosperity, we think we're
safe. We don't see it, we think we're
doomed. Who's gonna show us that we're safe even when we don't
see prosperity? Who's gonna make you to differ
from another? It's certainly not going to be
because there's some less of temptation in your flesh. I'm
talking to you believers now. It's certainly not going to be
because there's less of temptation in your flesh to turn from God.
That's not going to be what's going to make us cry, Lord, is
it? What did we see last Thursday
night from Romans 8, 26? The Holy Spirit of God, God the
Holy Spirit, comes in and makes intercession. He comes in and
He bears witness with our spirit and He makes us. He shines light
and He makes us to come to our own senses. He makes us to come
to ourselves in the new man that He's created. And this is what
He says to us. This is what He makes us to say.
Look at verse 3. Know that the Lord has set apart
him that's godly for Himself. That's what He does in our heart. This is how we're turned from
our flesh to Him. The Lord will hear when I call
unto Him. Stand in awe and sin not. Commune with your own heart
upon your bed and be still. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness
and put your trust in the Lord. This is what the Spirit of God
comes in and makes the believer do in the heart. That's who makes
us to differ. You see, this is the cry not
of somebody that doesn't have light, who's wanting light. This
is the cry of somebody that already has light. Because the only ones
who ever cry for light are the ones who already have it. Because
God's already given it. If you have light, You're gonna
cry for more light. The sun shined yesterday. You
content that it didn't shine today? That it don't shine today?
We want it to shine today? No, we need it to shine today.
Just like it shined yesterday. We need His light today like
we needed it yesterday. Look, this is a cry of one that
knows God's the only one that's able. It's not the cry of who
will, but it's, Lord, lift thou up. Lord, lift thou up. Look over at Psalm 9 and look
at verse 13. And where's he lifted you and
I, brethren? Psalm 9, 13. Have mercy on me, O Lord. Consider
my trouble, which I suffer of them that hate me. Now look how
he's described here. Psalm 913. Thou that liftest
me from the gates of death, that I may show forth all thy praise
in the gates of the daughter of Zion. He's lifted his people
from the gates of death into the gates of the daughters of
Zion. You think about it, in his sovereign
electing grace, he lifted his elect child out of death, out
of the gates of death, and put his chosen in Christ's straight
gate before as yet death ever entered in. When Christ came,
by Him taking the sin of His people upon Himself, He lifted
our sin off of us and He laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
And by Him going into the gates of death, and rising from the
gates of death, triumphant into the right hand of the presence
of God Almighty, Christ Jesus took His children in Him, out
of the gates of death, into the gates of the daughter of Zion,
into heaven's Zion. He came in the Spirit of His
grace in the day of His power by His Holy Spirit, and He lifted
you and I, dead in trespasses and sins, out of the gates of
the death of our own sin and our own flesh, and put us into
life, into the gates of Zion, into the gates of his church.
And he says in the gates of hell can't prevail against his power.
can't prevail against His power. Who then is going to revive us?
Who then is going to save us out of the gates of death, of
doubt and desperation of our own flesh and lift us into the
light of His glorious light? Who is going to do that? He alone
is going to do that. He is the one that revives us
and makes us to cry out, Lord, who have I in heaven but Thee?
And who upon earth do I desire but Thee? So that we cry out,
Lord, lift Thou up. And here's another characteristic
of this cry. It's the cry of those who know what is needful.
Who knows what is needful. Look at Psalm 4, 6. Lord, lift
thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. Lord willing, we're going
to spend Sunday just looking at this. Just looking at this. You know, whenever you have somebody
that is a dear friend, you have somebody who you depend
upon. You have somebody who you look
to, trust, whose opinion you honor and respect when they frown. When you look at their face,
and they look into your face, and they're frowning, and they've
got an obvious look of just discontent with you. Oh, it disheartens
you, doesn't it? It brings you so down to the
dust. But when you look into the face
of somebody, that dear friend, that one, and they're smiling,
and are looking upon you with favor. It just lifts your heart
up, doesn't it? It just lifts you up on the inside. What does this mean, the light
of thy countenance? When the Spirit of God makes
us to see, we see the light of the glory
of God. We see the light of the glory
of God. We see his smile. We see his
free favor toward us. We see the finished work of his
grace towards us. And we see that in his face,
in his countenance. We see it in Christ's face. the
glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus. That's where we see it.
In other words, we get it through this gospel and we get it through
Him speaking this in our heart and shining this light in our
heart and making us see Christ in whom we've been perfected
forever, who His favor is towards you and His grace is towards
you so that He says, you have no reason to be confounded, no
reason to be ashamed. done everything for you and I
will do everything for you. When you have that, when that
happens in the heart, then wherever God's light is, darkness can't
be there at the same time. It just can't. And when He shines
the light of His countenance in the heart, just like that
friend that looks upon you and smiles in that favor you have,
the darkness of doubt and of fear and of all those unbelief,
it's pushed out of the way of our flesh. All that is the substance
and the fruit of our flesh, it's pushed out of the way. And that
new man, that inward man is made to be alive in the light of his
presence, in the light of his countenance, in the light of
what he's done for us. You remember, look at Psalm 9.3. Do you remember whenever the
soldiers came to arrest the Lord? They came to arrest the Lord
and He said, who is it you seek? And He said, it's I Am. It is
I. And when He did, that light shined. He revealed Himself, not in their
heart, but His light shined. When His light shined, When He
said it in His light shine, they fell down backwards. Look at
what the psalmist says, Psalm 9-3, When mine enemies are turned
back, they shall fall and perish. This is how they are turned back.
This is how they fall and perish. At thy presence. You know what's
going to overcome your unbelief? His presence in your heart. That's
what it is. It's going to make that unbelief
and that doubt and that despairing of the flesh fall back on its
backside. Well, you remember all that,
look at Psalm 44. You remember everything, Psalm
44. You remember everything that
the Lord did for Israel when He brought them into the land
of Canaan? Look at Psalm 44, verse 1. We've heard with our
ears, O God. Our fathers have told us what
work Thou didst in their days in the times of old. How Thou
didst drive out the heathen with Thy hand and planted them. How
Thou didst afflict the people and cast them out, for they got
not the land. Our fathers, they said, they
got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did
their own arm save them. but thy right hand, and thine
arm, and the light of thy countenance, because you had favor unto them. It happened by his presence among
them. I know places that have fewer
people than we have, fewer people than we have, whose enemies are
being knocked back on their backside. And it's not by sword. It's not
by the people. It's by the right hand and the
arm and the light of God's countenance by His grace. That's what it
is. That's how it's done. Look over at Psalm 80. Psalm
80. Does anybody have a prayer request? Anybody have a prayer request? Is it a particular temporal thing
we need? Is it a particular affliction
we need removed? Is it more people? Is it sharper
swords? Is it bigger barns? Is it more
corn in the storehouse? Here's my prayer request. Here
it is. Psalm 80 verse 1. Give ear, O
shepherd of Israel. Thou that leadest Joseph like
a flock, that leads your children like a flock. Thou that dwellest
between the cherubims, thou flaming sword that turns every way, that
shekinah glory that dwells between the cherubims, shine forth. before Ephraim and Benjamin and
Manasseh, before all of your children, before all of your
tribes you've established, stir up thy strength and come and
save us. Turn us again, oh God. and cause
thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. You know what happens
when God does that? Psalm 27.1. Look at Psalm 27.1. I'll show you what happens. Here's what happens. Here's what
happens. That inward man, that inward
man jumps up like a deer, like a strong Young dear, faith rises triumphant
in the heart. And this is what we do. We cry out and we know and we
take our steps and we move knowing this. Psalm 27, verse 1. The
Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? That's
what happens when he He puts this light of His smiling countenance
in our hearts so that we see the smile of His grace is a smile
that don't ever change. It just don't ever change. Now,
what's the answer to this cry? That is the answer to this cry.
Let's hear it from our text back in Psalm 4. Here's the answer
to that cry. has put." Verse 7, Thou hast
put. He did it. He did it. He forgeteth
not the cry of the humble. Thou hast put. What has He put? Verse 7, Thou hast put gladness. Christ our light, Christ our
joy, Christ our rejoicing. Where has He put it? Where has
He put it? Verse 7, Thou hast put gladness
in my heart. You see that? You see, this work's
a spiritual work. This work is a hard work of faith. This work is a work done in spirit
and in truth. This work is a work done in the
heart. Christ in you, the hope of glory. What hope do I have of the end
glory? Christ in me. That's the only
way I know. That's the only way I have this hope. What do I have
hope of the glory of being a conqueror in Christ tomorrow? Christ in
me. That's the only hope I have.
What do I have of the hope of His glory making me a conqueror
today? Christ in me. That's the only
thing. That's it. How much does he put in? How
bountifully does he do it? Look at verse 7. More than in
the time that their corn and their wine increased. More than that. You mean this
is more than the earthly man's earthly harvest? Oh, it's far
more. It's far more. It's far more. What's the result of it? What's
the effect of it? Verse 8. I will both lay me down. Notice that word both. There's
two things here. I will both lay me down in peace. That's in the heart. That's something
in the heart. That's something that can't be
seen. That's something in the heart. I'll lay me down in peace. In peace. I'll have peace in
my heart, peace with God, peace in heaven, peace in my heart,
peace of my soul. And here's the second. And I'll
sleep. That's something done outwardly.
You actually lay down and sleep. I'm going to walk through this
earth. I'm going to get up tomorrow and go through my day-to-day
tomorrow. I'm going to continue in this
place doing what God's given me to do. I'm going to continue
in this place. longing to preach his gospel
to you, longing to support folks who are truly poor, folks who
are missionaries in countries that are truly poor, truly poor,
folks who don't have nothing in comparison to what I have.
I'm going to sleep. I'm going to go through this
world and sleep, rest, rest in all my care in his hand. Now,
one last thing. Let's go home with Selah. Let's go home with something
to hide in our heart and think about. Be sure you get these
three things from this. The first thing is this. The
Lord does not do this with the majority. He doesn't use the
majority to do it. There's some things in this life
we want to be in the majority. When it comes to salvation and
how God's working, this ain't one of them. We don't want to
be in the majority, because He's not using the majority. He passes
by the greatest in the house, and He makes kings out of the
least. He passes by those who are skilled
with a sword and whose strength is a sword, and He makes mighty
men out of shepherd boys. That's what He does. That's what
He did with David. The Lord doesn't do this with a carnal harvest
of corn and wine. That's the second thing. He doesn't
do it with a carnal harvest of corn and wine. The Lord himself
is the gladness in the heart. The light of his countenance
is the strength to do everything he calls his children to do.
Christ in you, the hope of glory, is more strength than any carnal
treasure ever could be. More strength than any carnal
thing can be. Now, we've seen that these are
two very different cries from two very different places. One
is from the flesh, one's from a heart made new. They're two
very different cries for two very different things. And they
had two very different answers. Did you see how, what a contrast
there was between these two questions and these two answers? Now, I
said there was one reason for this, one reason. What's the
one reason that God does things this way? The end of verse 8. He brings his child to know this.
Thou, Lord, only, makest me dwell in safety. That's the one reason. The Lord's going to be the only
one that's going to receive the glory for bridging the gulf and
making the ends meet, for breaking down the walls and building up
His house, the same as He does for putting away our sin and
making us the righteousness of God in Him. Because with Him is the fountain
of life. And in His light, we shall see light. Amen.