Don't you love those moments
when your heart rejoices because you've heard his voice in the
tempest? To him, you then flee. There
to lean on his arm, safe, secure from all harm, since he reached
down his hand for me. So grateful when I'm reminded
of what I have in him, where I stand in him, standing on the
rock. Turn with me, if you would, back
to Psalm 73. Psalm 73. I want to read three
verses to you. And these verses just touched
me the moment that I read them. As soon as I read these, they
just touched me. I pray the Lord will make them
to be a blessing to us right now. I pray he'll open them up
to us and bless them to our hearts right now. Psalm 73, beginning
in verse 24. thou shalt guide me with thy
counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven
but thee? And there is none upon earth
that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth,
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. When I read that, I immediately
thought that is the wonderful cry of every believer. What a,
what a glorious cry that we get to cry. That's the peace, that's
the heart, that's the hope of every believer. But whenever
I read that, I was also able to hear the voice of the Lord
Jesus Christ in that. And I was also able to hear the
voice of the Father in that. Listen to this again. As a gloriously
loving conversation between the father and the son, okay? Christ
speaking as the man, our substitute, God manifest in the flesh, the
one who came down to fulfill the work that his father gave
him to do. That's why Christ came. He came
to fulfill the work of redeeming his people. and the work of earning
a righteousness for his people. Everybody knows that if you're
gonna go to heaven, you gotta do good. You gotta have a record
of good to bring to God. Well, that's what Christ earned
for his people, a record of good. And while he was here, the scripture
says that he was in constant communion with his father. And listen to the voice of the
Lord Jesus Christ as he says to his father in verse 24, thou
shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory. He said, thou shalt guide me
with thy counsel as I walk through this life for my people, the
whole time I will look to you. You will guide me. I will look
to you. I will wait on you. Turn with
me over to John chapter five. John 5, look at verse 19. Then answered Jesus and said
unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing
of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do. For what things
soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father
loveth the Son. and showeth him all things that
himself doeth. And he will show him greater
works than these that you may marvel." In verse 30, he said,
I can of mine own self do nothing. As I hear, I judge. And my judgment
is just because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the
Father which hath sent me." The Lord Jesus Christ said, Father,
not my will, but thine be done. As I hear, I judge. Look at John
chapter six, verse 38. He said, for I came down from
heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent
me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that
of all which He hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should
raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of
Him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth
on Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise Him up at the
last day." He said, Father, you're gonna guide me, In the work that
you sent me to do. And he said, I'm going to finish
that work. And you're going to be well pleased with me. And
as my reward, I'm going to walk straight through the gates of
heaven itself. You'll receive me into glory. Look at John 17. John 17, verse four, he said,
I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work
which thou gavest me to do. And now, oh father, glorify thou
me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was. He said, father, I glorified
you here in the land of the dead on this earth. I glorified you. And he said, now glorify me in
the land of the living. Glorify me there in heaven where
I was with you before this world was ever even made. Turn with
me over to Psalm 24. Psalm 24, and I love the heading
at the top of my page, it says, Sovereignty of God. This is the
sovereignty of God. Psalm 24, verse 1 says, The earth
is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that
dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the
seas and established it upon the floods. Now who shall ascend
in the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy
place? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity nor sworn
deceitfully, he shall receive the blessing of the Lord and
righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation
of them that seek him. that seek thy face." And if you
have a center margin, you see where, oh, Jacob, mine has a
little number two. That means, oh God of Jacob,
that's who I'm speaking to. That seek thy face, oh God of
Jacob. So verse seven says, lift up
your heads, oh ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting
doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King
of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, The
Lord, mighty in battle, lift up your heads, O ye gates, even
lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory
shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The
Lord of hosts. He is the King of glory. He said, get ready gates, because
the King is coming in and he's worthy to come in. He finished
the work and he's worthy to walk straight on in. So go back to
Psalm 73 verse 24. Listen to this as Christ
saying to his father, thou shalt guide me with our counsel and
afterward receive me to glory. All right, now listen to the
father's reply to the son. Verse 25, he says, whom have
I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth
that I desire beside thee. He said, son, you are all my
delight. You are the complete apple of
my eye. Christ is the apple of the father's eye. He says, you
are the fullness of heaven. You are what fills heaven. And you're the only thing that
makes the earth worth redeeming. You are the hope of earth and
the joy of heaven. I love that song. He's the hope
of earth and joy of heaven. Verse 25, he said, whom have
I in heaven, but they, and there is none upon earth that I desire
beside they none upon earth. God, the father has only been
well pleased with one person on this earth. I wish men and
women could get a hold of that. They're trying so hard to please
God. They're trying so hard to please God. They're just working
and struggling and trying to please God. And they're trying
to please God. In the moment that God reveals to a sinner,
there has only been one person on this earth that God the Father
has ever been pleased with. It just stops all that. There's been one man That the
father has been pleased with and he's satisfied in that man. We just read this in John five,
we read this wording, but it also says it in John three, it
says the father love it, the son. And in John three, it says he
has given all things into his hand, everything into his hand. The father is only well pleased
with Christ. The father only loves us in Christ. He only accepts us and He only
chooses us in Christ. He said, this is my beloved Son. In Him, I'm well-pleased. Well-pleased. Why? Why is the
Father so well-pleased with the Son? It's because of this right
here. This is the work that the father
wanted Christ to perform. This is the work he gave Christ
to do. And this is the work that glorified
the father. He said, father, I've glorified
you on the earth. This is the work verse 26 Christ
said on behalf of his people as the substitute for his people,
the sin bearer of his people. the suffering redeemer of his
people. This is what he said, verse 26.
He said, my flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength
of my heart and my portion forever. In Lamentations 3, he said, my
strength and my hope is perished from the Lord. Lamentations 3
is the Lord Jesus Christ speaking. And he said, my strength and
my hope is perished from the Lord. Perished, died. He said, remembering mine affliction
and my misery there in Gethsemane, there on the cross of Calvary.
He said, remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and
the gall. He said, my soul hath them still
in remembrance and is humbled in me. Humbled for the sake of
my people. Oh, how our Lord humbled himself
for the sake of his people, humbled himself all the way down to the
grave. In Psalm 40, that's also Christ speaking, for the redemption
of his people, bearing their judgment. He cried, innumerable evils have
compassed me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me so that I am not able to look up. They are more than
the hairs of my head. Therefore, my heart faileth me. It fails me. But he went on to
say, even though I am poor and needy right now, he said, Father,
I know that you're thinking upon me. Thou art my help and my deliverer,
make no tearing, O my God." That's what he cried out to him. Psalm
73 verse 26, he said, my flesh and my heart faileth, but God
is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. He said in Psalm 16, I know that
thou will not leave my soul in hell. Neither wilt thou suffer
thy Holy one to see corruption. I know you won't. He said, I
know that you're the strength of my heart. I know you're the strength of
my heart. And if you, again, you have a margin, it says for
strength, it says rock, you are the rock of my heart. And he said, I know you're going
to be my portion forever. So seeing that entering into
that conversation between the father and the son, because the
father said that on behalf of Christ. And because Christ said
that on behalf of his people, we can say the same thing. This
is the cry of every child of God. This is the cry of every
believer in the confidence of of their work, what they covenanted
to do in the confidence of their covenant, because they said these
words, we can say these words. And because Christ said this
to the father, we can say it to the father. Look at verse
24. It says, thou shalt guide me with thy counsel. and afterward
receive me to glory." Does that not give you any encouragement? All the days of our life on this
earth, He is guiding us with His counsel, and He's going to
keep doing that until the last day comes, the last step is taken,
the last breath is breathed, and once that's done, He's going
to receive us into glory. He won't leave us. He won't leave us. He won't forsake
us. After Christ arose, he said to all of his people, starting
with Mary Magdalene, he said, because of what I've done, because
of this adopting blood, Ephesians says we're adopted into his family
because of this blood that paid your adoption price. He said, he is now my father
and your father. My father and your father. And
he said, when you pray, you can pray directly to him. We're going
through Matthew. We're about to begin Matthew
six, where the Lord said, when you pray, you say, our father. Christ bought that for us, purchased
that for us. He said, you pray directly to
him and he will hear you. and he will accept you and he
will receive you in me." He'll receive you in Christ. And he
said, in me, he'll never leave you and he'll never forsake you.
And he'll hold your hand and lead you. And he'll guide your
feet till you take that step into glory. To the Father we cry, thank God,
verse 24. Thou shalt guide me with thy
counsel. With the wisdom of your counsel.
Aren't you so glad that the lot is cast into the lap, but the
whole disposing is up to the Lord? We try to make these decisions,
we try to go this way or that way, and we're asking ourselves
all the time, what is wise? What's the wise way? What's the
right counsel here? What do we do? Thou shalt guide
me in thy counsel." You're going to guide me in your
counsel and afterward receive me to glory. The old man in here, There is
an old man still with us and we know it and really experience. I believe we experienced the
old man sometimes more in worship than anywhere else. That old
man is fighting and warring. I was watching something. I was
watching a guy talk about something. the other day, and I was very
interested in it, and I was soaking up every word that man had to
say, just on something I was interested in. And the thought
went through my mind, I wish I could listen to the gospel
like this. I wish I could retain this, acknowledge this. You know what I'm talking about?
There is an old man in here, and we experience that old man
as soon as we come in. We're not wrestling with flesh
and blood. You know, we think, well, we've been working all
day, so we're tired, and that's why I'm sleepy. Oh, no, it's
not. You work Monday and you're tired, tired, tired. You go right
up till nine, 10 o'clock, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Come
in here on Wednesday night, Sunday morning, Sunday night. What happens?
We're not wrestling with flesh and blood. We're wrestling with
principalities and powers and spiritual things. And that old
man in here gravitates to that. There's an old man in here that
gravitates to the world and desires the things of the world. But
there's a new man in here that desires Christ. There's an old man that caters
to the world and would prefer to cater to the things of the
flesh. and wants the things of the flesh.
But thank God there's a new man in here who just wants Christ.
That's all he wants. He just wants Christ. Just let
me get to Christ. Just lead me to Christ. Like that story, I love that
story of Charles Wesley. He was, back in the 1700s, he
was in his house And he was sitting there writing
or doing something, and the windows were open, and he had those shutter
sashes, you know, and a massive storm just came up, just all
of a sudden, just a huge, terrible lightning thunder. So he ran
to the window and reached out to close the sashes, and as soon
as he did, a bird flew into his coat. Then he pulled that little
bird in to his warmth and safety, and he sat down and wrote, Jesus,
lover of my soul, let me to thy bosom fly. Just let me come to
you. Just let me come to you, please. Verse 25 says, whom have I in
heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that
I desire beside thee. With Christ, because of Christ
in the promise of the covenant of Christ, we can right now say,
even though like verse 26 says, my flesh and my heart is failing
me here on this earth. My flesh is failing me. My heart
is failing me. It says, God is the strength
of my heart and he's my portion forever. He is my portion forever. He's going to lead me. This is
just a glorious thought. He's going to lead me in his
wise counsel until the day that he brings me to glory. And He's given me a heart that
wants Him and Him alone, a new heart, a new man that desires
whom have I in heaven but you. And there's none on earth that I
desire beside you. And even though my flesh and
my heart is failing me, God is the strength of my heart. And
He's gonna encourage that heart. Because He is my portion forever. He's my portion forever. Thank
God we can say that. Go with me to Lamentations 3.
This is in closing. Lamentations 3. After Jeremiah. Lamentations 3. Verse one, he said, I am the
man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. This
is Christ speaking. He led me and brought me into
darkness, but not into light. Surely against me is he turned. He turneth his hand against me
all the day. My flesh and my skin hath he
made old. He broke my bones. He hath builded
against me and compassed me with gall and travail. This is our
hope. that he didn't do it to us, he
did it to Christ instead of us. Verse six, he hath sent me in
dark places as they that be dead of old. He hedged me about that
I cannot get out. He made my chain heavy. Also
when I cry and shout, he shut it out my prayer. He forsook
me. He hath enclosed my ways with
hewn stone. He hath made my paths crooked.
He was unto me as a bear lying in wait and as a lion in secret
places. He hath turned aside my ways
and pulled me in pieces. He hath made me desolate. He
hath bent his bow and set me as a mark for the arrow." How
awful. the wrath of God that came down
on Christ for us. Verse 13, he hath caused the
arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins. I was a derision
to all my people, a mockery, and their song all the day. He
hath filled me with bitterness. He hath made me drunken with
wormwood. He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones.
He hath covered me with ashes, and thou hast removed my soul
far off from peace. I forgot prosperity. And I said,
my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord. Remembering my
affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall, my soul
hath them still in remembrance and is humbled in me. And because of that, we can now
say in verse 21, this I recall to my mind, therefore have I
hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great
is thy faithfulness. Years ago, a brother came to
me before the Bible study one Sunday morning, and he was worried
about his sin. He was very, very worried about
his sin. And he was wondering about his
hope. He was urgent about it. And I
told him, our hope is in the Lord's mercy. Our hope is in
the suffering that Christ endured to not bring the judgment upon
us we deserve. Mercy is not getting what you
deserve. And Christ took it for us. Our
hope is in the blood that was shed to bring mercy to us. And you cast your all on the
mercy of God and beg God for that mercy. And so then we had
the Bible study. And after it was over, between
the Bible study and the morning message, he pulled me aside again
and he said, how much mercy does the Lord
have for me? And I said, it's infinite. It's
never ending. It's inexhaustible. It starts
over brand new every single morning. And this was just precious. I'll
never forget this. He started just belly laughing. He started laughing and laughing
and laughing. He said, that's the greatest
news I've ever heard in my life. I said, me too. Me too. This I recall to my mind, therefore
have I hope. It's of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great
is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith
my soul. He's what I get. Therefore will
I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that
wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that
a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the
Lord. With that, and in that, we can
say, my flesh and my heart may be failing me right now, but
God is the strength of my heart, and he will be my portion. He
will be our portion. forever, now and forever. Amen. All right, let's all stand
together.