All right, turn with me if you
would again to Psalm 27. Psalm 27, let's read verse 13
again. It says, I had fainted. unless I had believed to see
the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. I had fainted. I love that verse. I always have. I've always loved that verse.
David said, I would have fainted unless I had believed to see
the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Just think
about that. Think about what he's saying.
He's saying, unless I had believed, truly believed to see the goodness
of the Lord in the land of the living, the goodness of the Lord,
all of the goodness of the Lord. Thinking about that brings a
bright spot in the middle of a dark world. It really does. the goodness of the Lord in the
land of the living. There is a place. This is so
hard for our minds to enter into. It takes God's spirit to allow
his people to enter into this, but there is a place. There is
a land where the Lord lives. Is that not amazing? There's
a place where the Lord lives. He's there. And He dwells there
with the people who are with Him there. It's a land of sunshine. It's a land of warmth. There's
no sun there. There's no need of the sun there.
The Lord is the light of it. His goodness is the warmth of
it. And David said, if I did not
believe And all of God's people can enter
into this. David said, if I did not believe in my heart that
I was going to physically. Right now, we see all this with
the eyes of faith. We try to imagine this place,
this land, where the Lord is and His goodness dwells. But David said, if I did not
believe that I was going to physically in person, physically see the
goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. If I did not believe
that, I wouldn't make it. I wouldn't make it. I wouldn't
make it through this life. I wouldn't make it through all
these fears and all these trials and troubles that come along.
There's so many, it's just one right after the next. It's wave
after wave after wave. And David said, if I did not
believe that I was going to see the goodness of the Lord in the
land of the living, if I wasn't looking to something, I'd never
make it. I'd never make it. He said, it's
that God given faith causing me to look to him, causing me
to look to his goodness toward me. He has been so good to us. Can't we say that as God's people?
He has been so good to us. And David said, that's what's
keeping me going. It is His goodness that has given me hope of seeing
Him in the land of the living. I'm hoping in His goodness and
it's His goodness that has given me hope. Now, what is His goodness? What exactly is the goodness
from Him that gives sinners like us hope? What is that goodness? Turn with me, if you would, over
to Exodus 33. Exodus 33, verse 18. It says, and he said, Moses,
and Moses said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And he said,
the Lord said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee. I will make all my goodness pass
before thee. I will proclaim the name of the
Lord before thee. and I will be gracious to whom
I will be gracious, and I will show mercy on whom I will show
mercy. He said, this is my goodness
to sinners right here, and it is. It is, this is his goodness. He said, I will sovereignly,
effectually, completely, Be gracious to whom I choose to be gracious
to. I will be kind and loving. I will show loving favor. Grace, free grace. I'll give
a free gift to whom I choose to give it to. And he said, I
will be merciful to whom I choose to be merciful to. I will spare
in my blood. I will forgive the sin of the
ones that I choose to be merciful to. That's my goodness. That's
my goodness. How was that goodness applied
to God's people? Directly applied to them. It
was applied in the person and it was applied in the blessing.
It was applied in the safety of the Lord Jesus Christ. If
you look right here at verse 20, He said, the Lord said, thou
canst not see my face for there shall no man see me and live. What he's saying is I'm too holy.
And if men and women ever saw that and realized just how holy
God is, they would realize just how good his grace and mercy
is toward them. They're not owed it. They don't
deserve it, it's His goodness that He would give it to them.
But He said, I'm too holy and your sinful flesh cannot stand
before me and live. You cannot look upon me and live. You're too sinful and my holiness
demands justice and wrath and judgment and you'll never live.
But verse 21, the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me,
and thou shalt stand upon a rock. And it shall come to pass, while
my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cliff of the rock,
and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by. And I will take
away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts. but my face
shall not be seen. God said, my glory and my holiness
and my judgment is gonna pass by you. And he said, if I pass
by you and you're uncovered, if you're unsheltered, if you're
standing there in your own condition, you'll never live through it.
So he said, I'm gonna apply my goodness to you by putting you
in the safety and in the protection, in the shelter of my rock. That's what I'm gonna do for
all of my people. I'm gonna put them in the shelter of my rock. And when the glory of my holiness
passes by, that rock will suffer the judgment for them. It'll
suffer the holiness. for them. It'll bear that slaying
holiness for them. And he said, you'll live. It
will spare you and you'll live. And who is that rock? That rock
is Christ. Everything in the scripture that
spares a sinner's life represents Christ. That rock is the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's where God put all of his
people. God the Father said, this is
my goodness to my chosen sinful people. On Christ, the solid
rock they'll stand. That's my goodness to them. And
the reason is because all other ground is sinking sand. All other
ground. The song says, I love this song,
it says, a wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord, a wonderful Savior
to me. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock. where rivers of pleasure I see. That's the goodness that David
was talking about in Psalm 27. It's Christ. It's Christ himself. The whole Psalm, the entire Psalm
is David's adoration. It's him adoring, him being thankful
for and finding comfort in the Lord Jesus Christ. And he said,
I would have fainted This is what all of God's people say.
That's where all of their adoration is. That's where all of their
comfort is. That's where all of their thankfulness is. They
say right along with him, I would have fainted unless I had believed
to see the goodness of the Lord. The Lord in the land of the living,
he's the goodness. He's my hope. Can we not say
that? He's my hope. He is what keeps
me going. He is what keeps me going. Every
time fear comes, He's my answer. Every time anything comes, trouble
of any kind, I look to Him. He's my hope. He's what keeps
me going. He is what keeps all of His people going. Now, don't
turn back to Psalm 27. We'll go back there in just a
minute. But what David said the Lord was to him, David said,
the Lord is something to me. And what David said the Lord
was to him, all believers say the same thing, the exact same
thing. The other believers that were
alive in the days of the scripture, they're recorded here in the
word. And every believer that's alive right now. If a sinner
has been made to be a child of God, the Lord is his everything. The Lord is his everything. When
salvation comes to a sinner, they see Christ to be everything. It's not doctrine. It's not anything
else. It's Christ. They see a person
and he's everything. The Lord is everything. If a
sinner has been safely placed in the cleft of the rock, that
cleft of the rock is everything to that sinner. And that's so. Any sinner who God has hid in
the safety and the protection of the rock, that rock is everything
to that sinner. All his salvation, all of his
hope. Christ is everything to God's
people. Everything. Christ is what keeps
God's people going. And this is the reason why ultimately
it's because they know they're going to Him. That's what keeps
them going. They know they're going to Him.
They know that every day that passes is one day closer to being
with Him, physically. Now, I would like for us to take
just a minute to enter in to what the Lord is to us. I just
want to take a minute and think about, through the scripture,
think about what the Lord is to us, what Christ is to us. If we belong to Him, This will
comfort our hearts and this will keep us going. Don't turn back
to Psalm 27, but the first four words of that Psalm say, the
Lord is my. Those are the first four words
of that Psalm. The Lord is my. David said, this is what he is
to me. Let me just tell you what he
is to me. I'll just tell you how great things he's done for
me. I'll just tell you what faith his spirit has put in me. The
Lord is my, that is so precious to me, that is so personal to
me, my. The Lord is my. Let's skim the scriptures for
just a minute. Listening to some believers.
who say, this is what the Lord is to me. That's what all of
the believers in the scripture are saying. This is what the
Lord is to me. The Lord is my, we're gonna read some verses
that have those four words in them. I looked up verses that
have those four words. The Lord is my. We're going to hear some repeat
things. We're going to hear some believers
say the same thing over and over again. It's because all of God's
people say the same thing. But every time God's people hear
it again, every time they hear that same thing again, all of
God's people say, Amen. Amen. So let's just enjoy this
together. Let's see if the Lord will allow
us to enjoy this and find some comfort in it with these other
believers here. in saying, the Lord is my, the Lord is my. All right, let's start with Exodus
15. Turn with me if you would over there to Exodus 15. This
is Moses, this is Moses speaking. And in Exodus 15, verse two, It says, the Lord is my strength
and song, and he is become my salvation. He is my God, and
I will prepare him and habitation, my father's God, and I will exalt
him. The chapter just before this,
Exodus 14, that's where the Lord opened the Red Sea, that glorious
story, that miraculous story of the Lord opening the Red Sea
and he permanently delivered the children of Israel from the
Egyptians. Israel, God opened that sea up
and it was a wall of water under them. and they walked across
on dry ground, and they made it to the other side, and they
turned around and looked back, and they saw that sea close in
on the Egyptians, and it slew them all, and it was over. That was it. It was over. And
chapter 15, verse 1 says, they all started singing. They were
just so elated with joy, they all started singing. Moses and
all the children of Israel, they sang, the Lord is my strength. You know, they believed that
with all their heart at that moment in time. The Lord opened
that sea. That whole army of the Egyptians
was after them. They were no match for the Egyptians.
And they were running in fear for their life, thinking, we're
about to die. And when they turned around and saw what God did,
they cried, the Lord is my strength. The Lord is my strength. They
didn't say, the Lord gives me strength. They said, the Lord
is my strength. The Lord is my strength. He's
my strength. I don't have any strength of
my own. He's the only strength I have. The Lord is my strength. They didn't say the Lord gives
me a song. They said the Lord is my song. The Lord, I'm singing him. He
is my song. A child of God understands that.
Really, a child of God understands that. A child of God can enter
into that and can find comfort in that, in him. Turn with me
now to 2 Samuel 22. 2 Samuel 22, verse one. And David spake unto the Lord
the words of this song in the day that the Lord had delivered
him out of the hand of all his enemies and out of the hand of
Saul. And he said, the Lord is my rock
and my fortress and my deliverer, the God of my rock. In Him will
I trust. He is my shield and the horn
of my salvation. Horn means strength, the strength
of my salvation. My high tower and my refuge,
my Savior. Thou savest me from violence. I will call on the Lord who is
worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved. from mine enemies. David said, that's what Christ
is to me. That's beautiful. That's beautiful. That's what every believing child
of God will say. That's what Christ is to me. That's what he is to me. Look
with me at Psalm 18. This is David speaking again
in Psalm 18. Verse two, it says, the Lord
is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength
in whom I will trust. my buckler, that means shield,
a buckler was a shield that wrapped around the soldier, just shield
on all sides, and the horn, the strength of my salvation, and
my high tower. I will call upon the Lord who
is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from my enemies. If
I did not believe, I, if I did not believe that the Lord was
my rock, if I did not believe that I was
standing on Him, that God the Father had not put me on Him,
if I did not believe that He was my fortress, think about
what a fortress is. My high tower defense, when all
those arrows start flying, where do you want to be? I want to
be in the high tower. My shield, my deliverer, my deliverer. If
I didn't believe that, I'm just telling you, I wouldn't make
it. I would not make it. Neither would you. We would not
make it. Turn with me now to Psalm 23. Psalm 23 verse 1 says, the Lord
is my shepherd. I shall not want. The Lord is
my shepherd. Do you wish you had someone who
was totally, completely committed to feeding you? Think about this question. Do
you wish you had somebody who was completely, completely committed
to feeding you and leading you and protecting you and providing
for you your every need, every single need you have? Do you
wish you had that? Totally committed to you. Do
you wish you had somebody who was totally committed to you? A child of God can say, I do. I do. Amazingly, it's amazing. I have someone who has committed
himself to faithfully caring for me. He'll never take his
eye off of me. Never. In spite of the fact that
I cannot take care of myself, because of the fact that I can't
take care of myself, the Lord has faithfully committed himself
to being my shepherd, your shepherd. If we are his sheep, with his
blood, he bought us. I lay down my life for the sheep.
With his spirit, he has called us into his fold. That's what
he's still doing. That's the goodness and the mercy
and the grace and kindness of the Lord. He's still calling
sinners into his fold, still calling his sheep into his fold.
Pray He'll call someone right now. I pray that we'll all be
able to say, the Lord is my shepherd. I want a shepherd. The Lord is
my shepherd. Let me show you two more brethren,
then we'll go back to our text. Go with me to Lamentations 3. Lamentations 3, Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Lamentations. This is Jeremiah speaking, he
wrote Lamentations. Lamentations 3, verse 24, it
says, The Lord is my portion. That's wonderful. What he's saying is, I get the
Lord. That's what I get. The Lord is my portion. That'll
keep a sinner going. If you really think about that.
If you really think, you know, like Peter said, we've left all.
What about us? Peter, you get the Lord. You
get the Lord. Jeremiah said everybody else
may end up getting all of this other stuff. But my portion is
the Lord Himself. In the choice of the Father,
in the sacrifice, in the payment of the Son, in the calling of
the Spirit, I get Him. I get Him. You get Him. Verse 24, it says, The Lord is
my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope in Him. He said,
that's why I'll keep going. 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. What a glorious thing to know. What a thing to hope in. The
Lord is what I get. I have Him now, but soon in person,
physically, tangibly. That's my inheritance. That's
my inheritance. Our father, God the father said
to his son, if you ask of me, I'll give you the heathen for
your inheritance. He got us. Therefore we get him. He's our inheritance. That's
what we have coming to us. We get him. It's amazing. One
more. Go with me to Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13 verse five, it says,
let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with
such things as you have. For he hath said, I will never
leave thee nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, the
Lord is my helper. and I will not fear what man
shall do unto me. The Lord is the one who will
hear my cry and help me." We may boldly say that because he
said, I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you. Because he
said that, we can boldly say, if I cry, he'll answer me, he'll
help me. He'll never leave me. He'll never
forsake me. Knowing that keeps me going.
Because of that, I can keep going. He'll never leave me. He'll never
forsake me. That's what a child of God can
say. Because he's caused me to believe that. Because he's caused
me to believe in his goodness toward me. All of God's people
say constantly, why me? Why me? His goodness toward me.
Why me? Because He's given me an eternal
hope in Him, because He did that, I can keep going. I can just
keep going. If it were not for Christ, I
couldn't keep going. I'd have no hope. But because
of Christ, because of the goodness of the Lord in the land of the
living, I have comfort, I have peace, I have hope. Now let's
close out this message going back to our text, Psalm 27. Psalm
27, verse one, David said, the Lord is my light. He's my light. You know, we are
to walk in the light that our God has given to us. What light
do we have? We have Christ. We walk in Him. We look to Him. We see Him. We wait on Him. David said, The
Lord is my light and my salvation. He's all my salvation. I'm not
my salvation. No works of mine. He's all my
salvation. So he said, Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my
life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When
the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to
eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. What he's saying is,
if God be for me, who can be against me? Though in host should
encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war should rise
against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired
of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the
house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty
of the Lord and to inquire in His temple. For in the time of
trouble, He shall hide me in His pavilion, in His own tabernacle,
in His own person. He'll hide me in Him. In the
secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me. He shall set me up
upon a rock Himself. And now shall mine head be lifted
up above mine enemies." Who is our head? Christ is. We're the body and He's the head.
Now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about
me, therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of
joy. He offered the sacrifice of blood,
therefore I offer the sacrifice of joy and thankfulness. David
said, I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry with
my voice, Have mercy also upon me and answer me. When thou saidst,
seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, thy face, Lord, will
I seek. And that's how it is for every
sinner that God calls to himself. God will say to the heart of
that sinner, stop seeking doctrine, stop seeking everything that
man tries to seek. Seek me, come to me, look to
me. David said, when you said that,
my heart cried, thy face, Lord, will I seek. I will come to you.
Verse nine, he said, hide not thy face far from me. Put not
thy servant away in anger. Thou hast been my help. Leave
me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation. He said, I'll
never leave you. I'll never forsake you. When
my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me
up. Teach me thy way, O Lord. and lead me in a plain path because
of my enemies." What a request to cry out to him, teach me your
way, teach me to look to you, teach me that plain path of you,
the one that leads me to you. Verse 12, he said, deliver me
not over unto the will of mine enemies, for false witnesses
are risen up against me and such as breathe out cruelty. And in
verse 13, he said, I would have fainted. I would have fainted
unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the
land of the living. Wait on the Lord. Be of good
courage while you wait. He shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say on the Lord, because
of the Lord, for the Lord's sake, for Christ's sake, for Christ's
sake, because of everything that he is to me and everything that
he's done for me. David said to his own soul, he
says to us and he says to himself, wait on the Lord. Wait on the
Lord, wait on the Lord, be of good courage. You keep looking
to the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Everything's
falling apart around us. I know, don't look to it. Don't
wait for good to come in this world. Good comes with the Lord. He said, wait on the Lord, be
of good courage. He'll strengthen your heart.
Wait, I say on the Lord. I would have fainted. unless
I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the
living. I would have fainted unless I
believed that, unless I had believed to see that. Like the apostle
said, Lord, increase our faith. I pray he will. Lord, increase
that belief in you. All right, let's close the service
with a hymn. It's going to be