But I am. But I am. I am. You know, this gospel is
a personal gospel. We all learn that to be true,
don't we? For a while, we thought religion was just religion, you
know, just a general religion. A true knowledge of sin is personal sin. Personal. But I am. I am. There's a lot of wisdom in that
statement. A lot of wisdom. We spend our lives in this flesh
going, He is. We spend a lot of time doing
that. Don't you know what he is? Let me tell you what she
is. Oh, that God would grant us the
grace and the mercy to immediately remember, but I am. He's a sinner, yeah. She's a
sinner. I'm the worst. I'm the worst. Verse 17 says,
I am poor and needy. Poor and needy. Our God is higher than the heavens. King of Israel. That's who David
was. King of Israel. Think of the
money that goes along with being a king. Probably hit his face on that. Think of the power that goes
with being the king. But he said, I am poor and needy. Poor and needy. That is a true
sinner right there. That's a true sinner. Poor and
needy. You hear men talk about all the
knowledge they have. All the knowledge. All that they've accomplished.
That's what everybody wants to talk about. All that they've
accomplished. All that they've accumulated. Whatever our hand finds to do,
we ought to do it with all our might. We really should. But
God's grace to us and his goodness and his mercy to us is that he
would make us This is our Lord preaching. Our
Lord says in verse three, blessed are the poor in spirit. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
You know that? The world today says, be proud. Really, proud. Let's put our
hands in and yield pride on three. Blessed are the poor, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. Poor in spirit. Does that not make you want to
grow poorer and poorer in spirit? Really? It makes me want to do
that. Look at verse 4. He says, Blessed
are they that mourn, they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they
shall inherit the earth. the new earth. Blessed are they
which do hunger and thirst after righteousness. Blessed are they
that need righteousness. I need righteousness. You know
why? It says they shall be filled. They shall be. True righteousness
is only found in one place. It's in Christ. and they shall
be filled with him and his righteousness. I desire true righteousness.
I really do. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst for righteousness, they shall be filled. Isn't that
something? Man thinks, man by nature thinks
that he's self-righteous. He thinks he is, but he's not.
He thinks that he is self-sufficient, but he's not. You just read that
song where it says, the Lord is good to all. When you read
that, I thought he sends the rain on the just and the unjust. He makes everybody's crops grow.
He sends the sunshine and warms us all. He's good to all, isn't
he? Good and kind to all. People
think they're self-sufficient. They're not. They're not. Lord,
I am poor and needy. We just sang the song and it
says, I need thee every hour. Every hour. Enjoy or pain. Come quickly and abide or life
is vain. And that's a true statement.
If I don't have Him, life is vain. It's all in vain. I need Thee, oh, I need Thee.
Every hour I need Thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee. I am poor and needy. Look back
at our text in Psalm 40. Psalm 40 verse 17 says, yet the Lord thinketh upon me. What a thought. I'm about to
tell you something, and it's not to be dramatic, it's not
to stir up emotion, but I'm gonna tell you something because it's
the truth. I'm gonna tell you the truth. My comfort is in the
word thinketh. Thinketh. I'm so glad that he
didn't say right there, yet the Lord thought on me. Because that
would mean he could have thought on me before, but maybe not anymore. I'm so glad it doesn't say, yet
the Lord will think on me. I know He's going to think on
me once I'm in glory, standing in His presence, sinless, right? I know He's going to think on
me then. We think about our relationship
to Him as starting once we get there, right? I'm down here in the world right
now. I'm poor and needy. He is thinking upon me, He always
has and He always will. Now listen to this, this is the
truth, okay? Before the world was ever made,
before it ever even existed, before anything was there, the
Lord was thinking on you. us in Christ, if we were elect,
He was thinking on you and He was thinking on me. How long was He thinking on us? How long was it before the world
was made? An eternity took place before
the world was made. How far does eternity go back?
Infinitely. It has no beginning. There is
no beginning. None. As far back as we go, we
barely scratch the surface of eternity. All of that time, He was thinking
on you, and He was thinking on me. All of His elect. And then our Lord created this
earth. And He came down here and He
walked on this earth for 33 years. 33 and a half years. And as He walked this earth,
He was thinking about you and me. And our natural flesh goes,
well I know He was thinking about His people in general, but you
remember we just said this is a personal message. This gospel
is a personal gospel. He said, I know mine, and they
know me. If I know him, you think he knows
me? I only know him because he knows me. That's it. All this time that he walked
this earth, all this time he's taken those steps, walking this
earth, How do you know that to be true?
How can you say that? We'll look at Psalm 40 verse
5. Many, O LORD my God, are thy
wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which
are to us worthy. They cannot be reckoned up in
order unto them. If I would declare and speak
of them, They are more than can be numbered. Can't be numbered. Go to Psalm 139. Psalm 139, look
at verse 17. How precious also How great is the sum of them? If I should count them, they
are more in number than the sand. I will always love that. I will
never grow tired of reading that verse by God's grace. More in
number than the sand. That's a lot of thoughts towards
me. You know that? That's a lot of thoughts. Our Lord came down here for His
bride. He came down here for His friend. The children of God. That's who
He came here for. The children of God. Tell me
this. Your loved ones. Your wife. Your husband. Your children. You have children. Those who you love. Do you think
about them? Do you? And I'm going to keep
using you. Do you think about Him? Really? You ever walk around just thinking
about Him? You ever drag yourself out of
bed thinking, why am I doing this? Oh yeah. I have a wife and I have children
that I love. As our Lord walked this earth
a perfect man. He was thinking on you. He was
thinking on me. He knows the exact numbers. He knows the exact number of
the hairs on my head. Right? I lose a few every day. More and more. He knows the exact
number I have every day. That's the truth. He knows the
count every day. He knows how many breaths I'll
take. He knows how many steps I'll
take. Whatever his name is. One of
these days, he's going to be holding on to something, and
all of a sudden he's going to let go, and y'all are going to
be calling Bob and Rebecca going, he took three steps. I know exactly how many he took. I saw it. Numbered. He knows how many times I'm going
to follow. He knows how much sorrow I'm
going to endure. As He was walking through this
earth, He thought, I'm doing this for them. I'm doing this for them. I'm
taking these steps for them. Is that not amazing? That's the
truth. I'm telling the truth. When they
laid hands on our Lord, and they brought Him before the punched him in the face, and
they spit in his face, and they ripped out his beard, and they
cursed him while he was taking his beating. Do you know why he didn't lash
out and fight back and kill them all? It's because he was standing
there thinking on it. You and me. I'm doing this for them. You
deserve that. He did it for you. Then he commended his spirit
into the hands of his father and he gave up the ghost and
he went to battle with death for three days and he won. Then He rose from the dead and
He went back to glory and He took His rightful seat at the
right hand of His Father on the throne of God. That's where He is right now. And as He reigns there, right
now, He's thinking about you and He's thinking about me. making intercession for us. Is
that not what the word says? Daily making intercession for
us. I am poor and needy, yet the
Lord thinketh on me. Is that not the best news you've
ever heard in your life? Turn with me to Jeremiah 29. that I think toward you. You know, the only way that you
can know what somebody else is thinking about you is if they
tell you what they're thinking. Really. That's the only way you
can know, is if they tell you what they're thinking. Our Lord
says, I know the thoughts that I think toward you, and I'm about
to tell you what they are. They are thoughts of peace. I think I'm going to give you
an expected end. You can expect it. If I think it, it's done. It's done. Why would he do that? Really? I'm poor and needy. What that means is I'm a sinner
and this is God. He doesn't know anything to me.
I don't deserve this. Why are his thoughts thoughts
of peace? We'll go back to our text and
we'll find out. Psalm 40. Psalm 40, the middle of verse
17 says it's because thou art my help and my deliverer. That's why. That's the only reason. Thou art When I need help, what
do I do? Where do I go? What do I turn
to? Thou. Thou. You know, the more a sinner learns
and the more a sinner grows in grace and in the knowledge of
his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, this becomes. It's a little bit
like fairy tale at first. For a while, you get to start
to understand the concept, and I know I should, but trusting
in Him is not really reality. I'm used to trusting in myself.
The more that a sinner learns, and the more that he grows in
grace and in the knowledge of his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
the more real this becomes. It used to be, Mom, Dad, I need
some help. It used to be, money will fix
it. How can I get myself out of trouble? Money should do it. Now I see that I could be the
richest man on earth, but if I don't have Christ, I am nothing
but poor and needy. Poor and needy. Verse 17 says, thou art. There's comfort right there.
Thou art. Matter of fact. Not might be,
not could be, not will be. Thou art. I didn't used to be poor and
needy, but not anymore. You know, thou was, thank you. today, tonight. Thou art my help. Isaiah 41 says, fear not thou
worm Jacob, and you men of Israel, I will help thee. That's real. I will help thee, saith the Lord.
Psalm 146 says, happy is he that hath We have Him. He is our help and our deliverer. We just talked about Him and
everything that He did for us on the cross. He delivered us
from our sin and He delivered us from our great enemy, Satan. On that day, on the cross. But
He delivers us from ourselves And the person who learns more
and more of his sin will understand what that statement means. He
delivers us from ourselves and from our guilt and from our trouble
every single day. He's the only one who can. The longer we live, the more
we're going to find that to be true. He's the only one who can. Nothing truly helps my soul.
Nothing truly lifts my spirit but Him. Really. He's it. He's it. If I'm down and He will
reveal Himself to me, I'm up. I'm up. Go with me to Psalm 103. Psalm 103 verse 1 says, bless
the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His
holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
forget not all His benefits, who forgiveth all thine iniquities,
who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth thy life from destruction,
who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies.
who satisfied thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth
is renewed like the eagles. The Lord executeth righteousness
and judgment for all that are oppressed. He made known his
ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel. The Lord
is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide, neither
will he keep his anger forever. He hath not dealt with us after
our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the
heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward
them that fear him. As far as the east is from the
west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like
as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that
fear him. For he knoweth our frame, He
remembereth that we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass,
as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind
passeth over it, and it's gone. And the place thereof shall know
it no more. But the mercy of the Lord is
from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him. In his
righteousness unto children's children, thou art help in my deliverer. Go back
with me to Psalm 40, verse 17 says, but I am poor in need,
yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Thou art my help and my deliverer. So therefore, Therefore, because
of all that, here's my request. Make no tearing, oh my God. Make no tearing. Come quickly. We just sang the song, fill me
now. Fill me now. I desire it now. If you will, make no tearing. Come quickly, that's my request,
that's my cry. Sunday morning we read verse
one, look at it, it says, I waited patiently for the Lord and He
inclined unto me and heard my cry. Heard my cry, that's a sinner's
cry, that's a sinner's comfort, that's a sinner's hope, mine.