All right, let's turn back to
Psalm 67. Psalm chapter 67. Back in the day, a lot of people
called Wednesday night prayer meeting. That's what my grandparents
used to say. You know, we're going to go to
prayer meeting. And I actually adore that thought.
I really do. A bunch of needy sinners coming
together for the purpose of praying to their God. That's why we're
here right now. Wednesday night is the middle
of the week. Earl came in and sat down in
there and said, it's hump day. And he's right, it's hump day.
And then Brother Tony read and read first Corinthians where
it said day by day and then we had one of our parishioners,
Sophie, request the song Day by Day tonight. So it was all
of the Lord. But Wednesday night is the middle
of the week. We are three full days away from our last time
of worship last Sunday. Three days. Three full days into
the world. We've had a three-day journey
since our last meeting. Three full days of dragging through
what the book Pilgrim's Progress calls the slough of despond, the miry clay. Usually by Wednesday we can feel
ourselves spiritually dragging. You know what I'm talking about?
Sometimes Monday morning we can remember the service and remember
our time together. And Tuesday we, you know, kind
of forget about that and move on to the week by Wednesday.
Spiritually dragging. What we need is a time of prayer. That's what we need, a time of
prayer. We need just a minute to step out of this world and
into His presence so that we can call on Him and hear from
Him. That's what we need. James wrote,
draw nigh unto God and He will draw nigh unto you. That is why we're here. That's why we're here. And because
we're sinners, and we've now had three days to be reminded
of that, may the first words that come
out of our hearts be this. Psalm 67 verse 1 says, God be
merciful unto us. That's why we're here. God be
merciful unto us. You know, mercy is not getting
what we deserve. Everybody in this world wants
what's coming to them, right? I just want what's coming to
me as though they deserve something good. They have no idea what
they deserve. Mercy is not getting what we
deserve, not receiving the punishment that's owed to us for all our
disobedience. That's what mercy is. Not reaping
what we have sown. That's mercy. I thought about
that publican in Luke 18. He went up into the temple to
pray. That's why he went. And standing
afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven,
but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner." I am what I am, a sinner. I am. Do I excuse that? God forbid. God forbid. I hate what I am. I wrote that in my notes, but
I'm speaking to you from my heart right now. I hate what I am. I really do. But I acknowledge what I am,
and I know that we all do, don't we? We really do. We all acknowledge
what we are and we all cry, God be merciful to us. Please be merciful to us. Verse
one says, and bless us. And cause his face to shine upon
us. Selah. Now that word Sela means you
just pause there for a minute and think about that. This is a song, right? A psalm is a song. And Sela is
a level of degree, a movement. It's a pause from where you are.
Now you think about those three statements that we just read.
Now think about this, okay? worthy of Selah. It says, God be merciful to us,
and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us. Now put yourself
back in the days of a king. David was a king, right? His
son Solomon was a king. They had kings before them, they
had kings after them. Put yourself back in the days
of a king. Back when kings were sovereign. Our president is not sovereign.
We have not had a sovereign president since we had presidents. Right? When a king was sovereign, whatever
he said went. All he had to do was say it. He could kill whoever he wanted. He could put in prison whoever
he wanted. No trial needed. That king was
the judge. That's how it was on this earth. Think about living in his kingdom and rebelling against his word. All right, now, Selah. That's
what it said. Think about this. Think about
sinning against His commandment, and the laws and land are clearly
posted. Transgression of the King's commandment
is punishable by death. Commandment's gone out. They
did this all the time. All the time. All right, now,
you broke the law. Everybody saw you do it. The
king himself saw you do it. He was standing right there watching
you blatantly, arrogantly disobey his command. So now you're sentenced
to die. All right? And you come before this king
Purposing in your heart to beg Him for His mercy. Now, this is wonderful. This is just
so wonderful. Now you think about this. You've
transgressed this King in front of everybody, in the
sight of everybody. And you're coming before Him
to beg Him of His mercy. Don't give me what I deserve.
I'm begging. And as soon as you say that,
you also say this, and I'd like to request that you
bless me with gifts. My request is that you would
smile at me and be very pleased and happy with who I am." Can you imagine that? Can you imagine the audacity
of that? Think about that. It's one thing
for a sinner to come in and say, King, I'm sorry. I'm just sorry. Just please don't kill me. Just
please don't kill me. But can you imagine the audacity
to walk up to the king and say, my request is for mercy and for
generous gifts from your treasure house and that you would smile
at me and be very fond of me. Can you imagine that? That king would say, who on this
earth do you think you are? You're a sinner. Shouldn't mercy
be blessing enough? Well, listen to this. Our King,
Jesus Christ, is sovereign. What He says goes. He can kill whoever He wants. He can imprison whoever He wants. Because every one of His subjects
have broken His law. And He is the Judge. Now turn
with me to Hebrews 4. Hebrews 4 verse 12 says, For the Word... Who is the Word? In the beginning
was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God, and the
Word became flesh. That's Jesus Christ. For the
Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and
of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in His sight. But all things are naked and
open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do, seeing them,
that we have a great High Priest that is passed into the heavens. Jesus, the Son of God, let us
hold fast our profession, for we have not an High Priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in
all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." Now you
watch verse 16. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of
need. Is that not amazing? Is that
not amazing? All we can plead is that we're
sinners in the hands of an angry God. That's all we can plead. And He says, I allow you, because
of My bloodshed sacrifice, to walk straight up to the throne.
And you don't have to be afraid. In request for mercy, and His
blessing and His face to shine upon you. How blessed we are! Man, how blessed we are! Well,
back to our text, Psalm 67, verse 1, our prayer request is, God
be merciful to us and bless us and cause His face to shine upon
us. That's our prayer. The next thing
we meet together to pray for is verse 2. That thy way may
be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations. Christ
is the way. Lord, we pray that You may be
known on this earth. That's our prayer. That really
is our prayer. Lord, reveal yourself to sinners. Reveal yourself to our loved
ones. Do you have any loved ones that
do not know who Christ is? We take this for granted. We
really do. I do. I take it for granted. I take it for granted. I have some friends that I love
so dearly. There have been some people that
have made such a, not in my family, that have just made such a huge
impression on me. They've been so good to me in
this life. Oh, Lord, save them. Please save them. Please, for
mercy's sake, because I know you're good, Lord, save them. Would you smack them and break
them? Save their soul? Lord, they're worshiping the
wrong Jesus. They're just ignorant. Lord,
they're ignorant. I was ignorant. Reveal to them
who you are. They have no idea your glory
and your majesty and your power, all your strength. Lord, reveal
the truth to as many as you will in this community. As many as
you will. We pray that thy way may be known
upon earth, thy saving health among all nations. Lord, every
man born in Adam's family tree is dead, dying, and sick. Every man born in Adam's family
tree is dead spiritually. He's dying every step he takes
in this life. And he's sick with sin. Sick. Lord, we pray Thy saving
health among all nations. I pray, I heard a man, and I'm
going to say his name. His name is Paul Hibbs. And he's, I don't know how old
Brother Hibbs is, but he goes to Madisonville, Kentucky. And
when I was there preaching as the Lord called me to go out
and start preaching, he was conducting the service. He was the man who
made the announcements and led the singing and all that kind
of stuff. And he read Scripture and he prayed and I heard him
make the statement, Lord, give us a greater concern for men's
souls. That hit me. I thought, I'm preaching. I'm getting in my car, driving
around preaching. Lord, give me, may this thing
not be about me preaching. I don't care what I have to say.
Nobody else really does either. They wanna hear what Christ has
to say. Lord, give me a greater concern for men's souls. Would you impress this upon me? Lord, we pray Thy saving health
among all nations. You know, their gospel, the nations,
the world, their gospel is all bad news. Don't you feel sorry
for what they listen to? You've got to do this. And you've
got to do this. And you've got to do this. And if you don't keep doing it
every day for the rest of your life, you're going to go to hell. Could you imagine listening to
that? Our gospel says, this is what
I've been called to do. I've been called to stand up
and say, okay, all the dead and all the sick, Christ did everything
that had to be done. The great physician has healed
thee, now live. That's a much better gospel,
isn't it? That's a much better gospel. Lord, we are met together to
beg that You might do that for more sinners. That Thy way may
be known upon earth, Thy saving health among all nations. Verse
3 says, Let the people praise Thee, O God, Let all the people praise Thee. I was a guitar teacher. And, you know, you come from
a relatively religious area. Everybody wants to learn the
guitar so they can start a praise band. And they tell that to me
expecting me to be like, oh, that is wonderful. My response
was, really? We're going to start a praise
band. Why? Why don't you start a rock band?
Why do you want to start a praise band? Who are you praising? Really? Really? Lord, let the people praise Thee. That's my prayer for myself and
that's my prayer for this congregation. Let the people praise Thee. Lord,
we pray glory and honor to Thee. All the glory in salvation. Who did the saving? God did.
All the glory in election. Who did the choosing? God did. All the glory and substitution. Who paid the price? God did. He's the one who made the demands.
He's the one who paid the price. All the glory goes to Thee. Verse
4 says, Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for thou
shalt judge the people righteously and govern the nations upon earth. Selah. Think about this. This will help
your three-day sorrow. We are living life in this world,
but this world is not our world. We are living life in it. But
this world is not our world. Our Lord said, you're not of
this world even as I'm not of this world. And as we sludge
through this slough of despond, when we start looking to our
physical state, it's just sad. Our Lord has really blessed us
with so many wonderful things. We do have wonderful lives. He
takes care of us. He provides for us. But when
we look at our physical state, it's sad. Now I want you to see
if you can find Habakkuk. It's in the middle of all those
small books at the end of the Old Testament. Habakkuk. It's after Daniel and Hosea. Habakkuk chapter three. Now verse 17 says, although the
fig tree shall not blossom. That's our works. Although the fig tree shall not
blossom. I had visions of grandeur for
my life and my career when I was younger. I really did. And I couldn't be happier with
how it turned out. But the Lord's people are gonna
find that they're not gonna inherit the world. They're just not.
Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit
be in the vines. The labor of the olive shall
fail, and the fields shall yield no meat. We are not going to
find fatness in this world. The flock shall be cut off from
the fold. We are His flock. Do you ever
feel cut off from the fold for the truth's sake? It says, And
there shall be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in
the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength,
and He will make my feet like hinds' feet, and He will make
me to walk upon my high places. And he says, I'm writing this
to the chief singer on my stringed instruments. The chief singers,
he says, sing, sing. As we go through this world,
all we have to physically look at is this world. Eye hath not
seen, right? Or ear heard. But when we look
to Christ, Things get a lot better. He says, my feet become like
Heinz feet. We literally, I did too. I decided
I was going to fake it for y'all, but I was just dragging in here
tonight. I was tired. And as I'm getting into this,
I feel like my feet have the feet of deer. Leap as a heart. He says, I'm going to walk upon
high places. You know where that is? That's
cloud nine. Revelation 5, let me just read
this to you. Revelation 5, verse 9 says, They
sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book,
and to open the seals thereof, for Thou wast slain, and hast
redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue,
and people, and nation, and hast made us unto our God, kings and
priests, and we shall reign on the earth." If we could just
remember that, if we could just remember that. Turn with me over
to Isaiah chapter 9. Isaiah chapter 9, look at verse
6. It says, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given,
and the government shall be upon his shoulder. Do you know what
that means? That means He is ruling and controlling
every single thing. That's what it means. What that
means is, you don't have to worry about it. The government shall be upon
His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government
and peace, there shall be no end. Do you know what that means?
Of the increase of His government and the increase of His peace,
there shall be no end. It's never going to stop increasing. Once you think you've had all
the peace you can handle, there is so much more peace to come. upon the throne of David, upon
his kingdom, to order it, to establish it with judgment, with
justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord
of hosts will perform this. Well, back in our text, verse
4 says, Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy for thou
shalt judge the people righteously and govern the nations upon earth. See law. That's our prayer. Lord,
judge us in Christ and govern us while we're here on this earth.
govern us while we're here. Verse 5 says, let the people
praise thee, O God, let all the people praise thee. You know
that's the same thing verse 3 says? Verse 3 says, let the people
praise thee, O God, let all the people praise thee. These Psalms
are songs. And that's the chorus. If you know anything about songwriting,
you have a verse and a chorus, right? The chorus is that repeated
part that drives home the message of the song. You know that? Well, the redounding theme of
this song is, verse 5, Let the people praise Thee, O God, let
all the people praise Thee. What a prayer that is. What a
request that is. It's a wonderful desire to have.
Verse 6, Then shall the earth yield her increase, and God,
even our own God, shall bless us. When Adam sinned, this ground
became cursed. Cursed. But David is saying right
here, the grace of God can and shall remove that curse. From dust we came, to dust we'll
return. We are the earth. And in Adam, we're a cursed people. But in Jesus Christ, verse six
says, God shall bless us. No ifs, ands, buts, or maybes
about it. Verse seven says, God shall bless
us. Now listen to this. The prayer
of the first verse is the song of the last. That's Charles Spurgeon. The prayer of the first verse
is the song of the last. We're gonna find that to be so. We started by saying, oh Lord,
please bless us. Please bless us. And after seeing
Jesus Christ, we walk out saying, God shall bless us. He really
will. and all the ends of the earth
shall fear Him." You know, the fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. Those who fear Him now will in that day have nothing
to fear. Those who do not fear Him now
shall fear Him in that day. And we're afraid of that, aren't
we? Every time we say that, that grabs our attention a little
bit, doesn't it? We're afraid of not fearing Him as we should. So do you know what we cry? Verse
1 says, God be merciful to us. We come back three days and we
say it again. And we come back in three days
and we say it again. And then we come back in three
days and we say it again. God be merciful to us and bless
us and cause His face to shine upon us. That's our prayer. Alright,
let's stand together.