Psalm 140, the title message, A PRAYER FOR
DELIVERANCE FROM THE EVIL MAN. That song we just sang, I thought
as I was sitting there, we ought to sing that song before bed
every night. Thank you, Lord, for saving my
soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me
whole. If the Lord has saved you, you
really know what that means. They are, as Paul said, all men
have not faith. And I do. That's by the grace
of God, purely by the grace of God. Now when we are wronged, we often
want to retaliate. But David, and especially our
greater David, the Lord Jesus Christ, shows us a better way.
When I first began to read this, I thought of this song we sing,
take your burden to the Lord and leave it there. That's how
you handle trouble. You take your burden to the Lord
and you leave it there. We are to cast all our care upon
him who cares for us. Could God prove his care to us
any more than he did when he sent his son into the world to
die? The disciples said to the Lord
when they were on that boat and in that storm and it was filling
up with water and they went back and they woke him up. And what
was their statement to him? Carest thou not that we perish? Why do you think he's here? Because
he cares. and He's not gonna let us perish.
The Lord's not gonna let any of His sheep perish. He said,
I will not lose one of them. Not one of them. Our Lord knows where we are,
and our Lord knows what we're going through. He knows right
down to, as we looked at last week, down to our thought. He
knows our down-sitting and our uprising. He knows that. He knows
the feelings that's going through our hearts. He knows. He knows. Now this portion of scripture
here in this Psalm, it applies to the Lord Jesus Christ as He
walked in the flesh on this earth. The evil man was always after
Him. The Pharisees always after Him, wanting to kill Him. It
applies to every believer as they encounter the evil man in
this world. But now here's where it really
applies. It applies to the evil nature,
that old man that I was born with and I still have. Deliver
me from him. I'm telling you right here is
where deliver me from that old nature, that old man, evil, I
never thought of myself as ever being evil until God saved me.
And I realized I have an evil nature and I know it's still
there. And it raises its ugly head up too often, too often. So let's look at how David handled
His enemies and the greater David, our Lord, handled His enemies
and our enemies. His enemies are our enemies.
And the first thing He does here in verse 1 is He takes refuge
and comfort in going to the Lord. We ought to take great comfort
in the fact that we have access to the throne of grace. And the
more access we have to it, the more we use it, the less complaining
we do. I don't think you can complain
too much if you spend much time at the throne of grace. Those
who complain a lot haven't been there very much. And I know believers
do that, I know that because of this evil man that's in us.
But listen to what he says here, Do we have any idea how many
times the Lord has delivered us? You know how many times the
Lord delivered you today? You know how many times that
the evil one would like to have you and sift you as wheat? But the Lord's delivered us and
here we are. Here we are. He may have slowed you down in
traffic to keep you out of a wreck so you can be here tonight. You
know, I think of that when I get mad and then I'm in traffic and
I get, You know, we traveled to West Virginia, and that's
the one state, I should be careful here, I'm on the air, but that's
the one state that just continual road work. I mean, it's just
continual. And the last time I went in,
I spent an extra hour and a half getting there because of road
work, and I was getting upset. And I thought about that. I thought,
who knows what the Lord's keeping me from? Who knows what He's
saving me from, making me slow down right here? I don't know.
He knows. And we ought to really come to
the place and trust Him for that. We ought to trust Him. Our Father
knows best. There used to be a show on many
years ago called Father Knows Best. Our Father does know best. Deliver me, O Lord. from the
evil man, preserve me from the violent man. David had his enemies,
many wanted him dead. Saul, his father-in-law wanted
him dead. The Philistines wanted him dead,
even as they wanted the Lord Jesus Christ dead. A man who went about doing good,
that's all he ever did, that's all he ever did was good. Everything
he did was good. HE HEALED THE BLIND, THE LAME,
THE DEAF, GAVE THEM THEIR SPEECH, AND HE RAISED THE DEAD. NOW WHAT'S
WRONG WITH THAT? BUT THEY WANTED TO KILL HIM.
YOU KNOW WHY? BECAUSE WHEN NATURAL ENMITY MEETS
GOD, IT COMES OUT. IT COMES OUT. IF THIS WORLD COULD,
IF THIS UNBELIEVING WORLD COULD, RIGHT NOW, THEY WOULD TAKE GOD
OFF THE THRONE AND KNELL HIM ON A CROSS AGAIN. if they could
do that. Let me see where I'm at. But
this prayer, listen, this prayer is a prayer for all believers,
not just a king like David. It's a prayer for us because
we live in an evil world, don't we? If there's anything that I have
come to recognize It's this one of the things I've come to recognize
is this the whole world Lies in wickedness. It really does
it really does I Understand and I know that the sovereign constraint
of God is the only reason we can live together on this earth
You couldn't live on this earth. It wasn't for the sovereign constraint
of God if he let the human heart be what it is and I thank God
He doesn't. I thank God He doesn't let MINE
be what it is. That old nature I was born with,
that old heart. Now He's given me a new heart, but I still have
that old one and I'm glad He doesn't let it take over. Sin
shall not have dominion over you. That's that sin nature He's
talking about over in Romans. That sin nature which one time
ruled as a king over you will never rule over you again. Never. Christ rules. Christ reigns in
the heart. But here, listen to this, and
this is another way of looking at it, and it's true. Deliver
me from the evil man within me. Ephesians 4.22, that you put
off concerning the former conversation, the old man, that's the evil
man, that's the violent man, that's the violent man. Like I said, if God would draw
back His hand of constraint, you see how violent your nature
is. Where do you think all these wars come from? Look at history! History is nothing but war, after
war, after war. That's all it is. But you put off concerning the
former conversation of the old man which is corrupt according
to the deceitful lust. Turn over to Romans 7 and let's
read it Once again, and we need to be reminded of this often. This is that evil man Paul is
speaking about. I find verse 21. Well, let me
go on up here a little bit. Let me see here where to start.
Let's go to verse 14, For we know that the law is spiritual,
but I am carnal by nature, sold under sin. For that which I do,
I allow not. For what I would, that do I not. For what I hate, that do I. IF THEN I DO THAT WHICH I WOULD
NOT, I CONSENT UNTO THE LAW THAT IS GOOD, NOW THEN IT IS NO MORE
I THAT DO IT, BUT SIN, THAT SIN NATURE THAT DWELLS IN ME." He's
speaking here of two different natures of a believer. That nature
that's born of God, and that old nature that's that Adamic
nature we got in our first birth. Verse 19, for the good that I
would, I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Now, if I do that, I would not, it is no more I that do it, but
sin that dwells in me. He's not making an excuse here.
He says, it's not me doing it, but he's saying there's a sinful
nature in me that's at work. And it just taints everything
we do. It taints everything we think.
It does. It just, you ever sit around
And you're just angry about something or somebody and you're just starting
to think of it and you think, why am I thinking like that?
What am I thinking like that for? That's not of God. That's not of God. It's of that
old nature. I find then a law that when I
would do good, evil's present with me. I delight in the law
of God after the inward man, that new man, but I see another
law of my members warring against the law of my mind, bringing
me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members.
There's a warfare going on. You know, if you don't have this
warfare, that's because there's only you in there. You have to
have two to have war. And if there's no warfare, that's
because that person has never been born again. There's only
one nature, and that's an evil nature. But I see another law
on my members, warring against the law of my mind. Bring me
into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members.
Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? It's like this, it's like having
a dead body strapped to your back. and you're walking around
with that stinking, smelly, rotting, decaying body, you got strapped
to your back, isn't it? That's what that old nature's
like. You can't get away from it until God lays it in the grave.
I thank God, though, there is hope. I thank God through Jesus
Christ our Lord, so then with the mind, I myself serve the
law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin until God lays
this flesh in the grave at old nature until it's gone. This
is the life we have to deal with, it's a warfare, we're in a warfare. And our refuge and comfort that
we find as we go through this life and we struggle with this
inward struggle we have is just this, take your burden to the
Lord and leave it there. Come boldly, not arrogantly,
Not arrogantly, come boldly. You know what that means? Come
believing. Come believing God. He that comes
to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of
them that diligently seek Him. We don't go to the throne of
grace and say, I bet He won't do it. No, He won't. That's not boldly. Boldly coming
to the throne of grace, boldly is coming and taking God at His
word. I have a right to be there. I
have a blood-bought right to be there, and I have a command
to be there. Cast all your cares on Him. Cast
it on me, He says. And here we see in verse 2, the
mind and nature of that evil man. THE EVIL MAN OF THE WORLD,
THAT EVIL MAN WITHIN, HERE'S THE MIND AND NATURE OF IT, WHICH
IMAGINE MISCHIEVOUS, plural, always, always mischievous. Don't you find yourself always
struggling with your thoughts? Am I the only one? I mean, I
do. I'm always struggling with my thoughts. I mean, I try to I get my mind upon things when
I'm thinking in a direction I think, and that's not of God. And I
try to think of something that I know that's of the Lord. I
think of the Scriptures or something, you know, to get away from that
thought, to break that thought. Because I know that that old
nature we have is constantly mischief, just constant mischief. Which imagine mischiefs in their
heart continually, see? Continually are they gathered
together for war, the spiritual warfare that we deal with. It's
continual, it doesn't stop. It doesn't stop. You go to sleep
in your dreams. Your dreams are, it's just terrible. You know the word of God said,
we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities
and powers in high places. And this evil, this evil here,
this mischief and evil comes from an evil heart, an evil heart of unbelief which
is the mother of all sin. In Genesis 6 verse 5, And God
saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And you know what? That hasn't
changed. Man hasn't changed. He's a little
more educated. He can invent ways of fulfilling the lust of
his flesh. But man hasn't changed. The nature
of man hasn't changed. It's the same. It's evil. Man
knows nothing. Because of this evil, he knows
nothing but continual war. You ever step back and just look
at wars and how you're just people shooting people, people killing
people. Can you imagine that? Has anybody
ever, because I know they won't, because I know what human nature
is, but they don't ever stop and think, what are we doing?
Just killing each other. But that's the natural man. That's
that natural, that's that evil, violent nature. Now that's what's
in man. It's a violent nature that's
in man. And God, from time to time, God Almighty, allows that
violent nature to break out to remind the human race, this is
you. They have riots, there'll be
looting, and this is human nature. Now you take, if the Lord drew
His hand back, that would happen every night. It would happen
every night. They talk about how many murders
there are a year, that wouldn't be nothing compared to if God
pulled his hand back. Wouldn't be nothing compared
to that. But this is that enmity coming
out against the Lord and His people. Don't expect a smooth
ride. Don't expect a smooth ride on
the way home. There's no smooth ride in a war.
There's no smooth sailing in a war. And here's the evil man's choice
weapon. Verse three, they have sharpened
their tongues. Is there anything more deadly
than the tongue? I tell you what, now, my dad
told me one time, he said, you got a sharp tongue, boy. He's
right. He's right, I might not have
a sharp mind, but I've got a sharp tongue. And I HATE IT! I HATE IT! Look over in Psalm 141, look
at verse 3, David recognized this about himself, and said,
Watch, O LORD, before my mouth, and keep the door of my lips.
Have you ever asked God to do that? Have you ever asked God
to put a check on your mouth? PUT A CHECK ON YOUR TONGUE. THE
MOST DEADLY THING UPON THIS EARTH IS THE TONGUE. IT IS THE TONGUE,
INCLUDING MY TONGUE. LORD CONTROL MY TONGUE. Turn over to James chapter 1. James chapter one, I'll get there
in a minute. Maybe. James chapter one, look
in verse 26. If any man among you seem to
be religious and bridles not his tongue, But deceiveth his
own heart, this man's religion is vain. He can say, I believe
election. He can say, I believe particular
redemption. I believe it. I believe in total depravity.
I believe it, but he doesn't bridle his ton. He says his religion's vain.
There's nothing to it. It's empty, false. Look in chapter
3 of James. Look in verse 4, Behold also
the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of
fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm,
whithersoever the governor listeth. Whole nations, listen, whole
nations have been turned by a tongue. I think of Hitler. Turn that
whole nation by his tongue. Although I have no doubt he was
under an evil spirit. Verse 5, Even so the tongue is
a little member, just a little member, and it boasts great things. Your tongue gets you in trouble.
Your tongue gets you in trouble. IT BOASTETH GREAT THINGS. BEHOLD,
HOW GREAT A MATTER A LITTLE FIRE KINDLING. AND THE TONGUE IS A
FIRE, A WORLD OF INEQUITY, SO IS THE TONGUE AMONG OUR MEMBERS,
THAT IT DEFILES THE WHOLE BODY, AND SETTETH ON FIRE THE COURSE
OF NATURE, AND IT IS SET ON FIRE OF HELL. EVERY BEAST CAN BE TAMED,
HE SAID, BUT YOU CAN'T TAME THE TONGUE." God can, Well, we can't. The tongue is the greatest instrument
of death. David was hunted because he was
called a rebel. Jesus Christ was crucified because
they called him a blasphemer. Was he? No, but they said he
was. That tongue, that tongue, evil. And Lord put a watch on my tongue. Put a watch on my tongue, what
I say. But here in verse 4, He gives
this prayer for preservation. LORD, keep me, keep me from the
evil man without and within. Keep me from an evil tongue.
Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked. Preserve me from
the violent man whose purpose to overthrow my going. You know
that old nature we have? IS TOTALLY SET AGAINST US, AS
BELIEVERS, AS CHILDREN OF GOD, THAT OLD NATURE IS TOTALLY SET
AGAINST US, AND IT IS VERY REAL, IT IS VERY REAL. You know, our Lord, listen, our
Lord prayed to be kept, they tried to lay hands on Him many
times, but He depended and called upon God to keep Him, He did. And we need to be kept from the
hands of wicked and evil men, or the evil man. For we are just
weak, frail sheep. Has God ever made you realize
how frail you are? Has God ever really done that? We think we're strong. We think we can handle about
anybody or anything. And God just let a little germ
get in our system and lay us low in the bed. Teach me how
frail I am that I may number my days. We're just frail sheep, that's
what we are. We're just frail sheep. And only the Lord controls
the hands of the wicked. He was the only one who does so.
Satan couldn't touch Job without the Lord's permission, could
he? You know, this is so comforting
to me. And I didn't think as I didn't
give as much attention to it when I was younger as I do now.
The Lord controls the hands of the wicked. What they would do
if they could, God has kept them from it. I had a debate on telling this. But I had fired a guy once, and
the secretary said, he's got a gun, and he's looking for you. You're stupid. I said, tell him
where I'm at. That's stupid as can be. God
kept him from doing anything. God did that. God kept his hands from doing
any harm. God did that. It wasn't me. That's what I'm
saying, boy. I'm glad to be older. I'm glad to be older. I don't
want to go back and be young. I don't. I don't want to go there no more.
But the Lord controls their hands and he has to give permission
to a fly to even light on me. I mean a fly cannot light on
you unless he allows it. And sheep need to be kept from
the wolf by the power of God. The wolf would devour us. Have
you ever seen a sheep whip a wolf? No, and you never will you never
will a wolf always goes for the throat of sheep You look at a
sheep has been killed by wolf. It's ripped his throat out And
they would rip our throat out if God Almighty didn't constrain
him That's that's so Here's the purpose of the wicked is to overthrow
the righteous Now I want you to understand this THE WHOLE
WORLD SYSTEM IS TO OVERTHROW THE RIGHTEOUS. THE WHOLE WORLD
SYSTEM, HEADED UP BY SATAN, IS TO OVERTHROW GOD'S CHURCH, BECAUSE
TO DO THAT IS TO OVERTHROW CHRIST, AND TO DO THAT IS TO OVERTHROW
GOD. THAT'S THE WHOLE SYSTEM. THE WHOLE WORLD SYSTEM IS SET
UP FOR THAT PURPOSE. THAT'S WHAT IT'S DOING. I don't see the world system
as, you know, I don't see it as this party and this party. No, they're all against the gospel. They're all against God's people.
They're all against the gospel. They're all against God. The
whole world hates God. I know that's going to sound
to some far-fetched, but I'm telling you it's not. It's not
you could if it was not so we'd have to build it We'd have to
this building couldn't contain the people that would be here
Couldn't contain you And he says here's the purpose
is to overthrow my goings What did what did Christ say did to
Peter if he said do you love me? You don't want what he said
after after that Follow me What was Satan's purpose? to stop
his goals, to stop him from following Christ. If he can just get one
sheep, he's got victory. Our purpose is to follow the
Lord Jesus Christ. And Satan's purpose is to try
to stop it any way he can. After 6,000 years, you'd think
he'd learn he can't do it. You'd think he would have learned
that over Job. SIN JUST TAKES AWAY ALL WISDOM,
IT TAKES AWAY ALL WISDOM AND UNDERSTANDING. In verse 5 here, look, it says
here, THE PROUD, LIKE THEIR FATHER THE DEVIL, HAVE HID A SNARE FOR
ME. How many times did they try to
trip up our Lord in His speech? They tried to trap Him, they
tried to trap Him so many times The PROUD, and there's none more
proud than a FALSE RELIGION, than FALSE RELIGION. The PROUD! The PROUD have hit a snare for
me and cords, like the hunter does for the animal. They have
spread a net by the wayside over the hole they've dug for me to
fall in. Aren't you glad that God knows where all those are
at? God knows where all the pitfalls are. And He guides. Savior, like a shepherd, lead
me. It's like a minefield. We walk
like a minefield. This world is like walking through
a minefield. And Almighty God knows where all the mines are.
And He leads us. You say, why did I do that? Why
did I go this way? What am I? I mean, I can look
at my life and my life is I would have never in my wildest
dreams imagined that the way God has brought me and the things
we've gone through and the path we've taken. That's the path
home. That's the one he's chosen for
us. And he knows where all the mines, he knows where all the
gins are, he knows where all the traps are, he knows where
they all are. And with confidence, we ought
to just pray, Lord, lead me. Believe me, the steps of a good
man are ordered by the Lord. Every step, every step. I asked Henry one time, I said,
I was asking him about something about, when I was at Hurricane
Road, I was asking him about something, a direction. I was asking him about some direction,
what I should do. And he said, There was so much
wisdom in what he said to me. He said, well, he said, we never
have a clear path. He said, the only thing I can
say to you is when the stone comes up, step on it. And when
the next one comes up, step on it. And that's the way it'll
be all the way home. It's never a clear path. Just
when that stone comes up, that door opens, step on it, go through
it. That's called living by faith.
The just shall live by faith. We just have to take him at his
word. Like my granddaughter Madison, she wants everything laid out. I mean literally laid out for
the year. Her four year program at college, she wants everything
taken care of. She wants to know everything.
I told Madison it don't work like that. Life's not like that. You have no idea which direction
you're going to go, what path you're going to take. You know,
we plan and plot, but the Lord directs. Our Lord directs, and
I'm glad He does. But, he said the proud, they
hide a snare for me, and the cords, they have spread a net
by the wayside, and they have set gins for me. My old nature
does that all the time. My own nature fools me all the
time. And notice here how David encouraged
himself here in verse six, and I'll move along here quicker.
I said unto the Lord, prayer. You know, if, I mean, if you
got a question or you got something on your heart, you want to talk
to me about, talk to me, but talk to him first. I mean, talk
to me, I'm the pastor of the Lord, He forgives us for that,
but talk to Him first. And ask Him to give me some understanding,
even before you talk to me. I said unto the Lord, I prayed
unto the Lord, Thou art my God. See how He encouraged this? I'm
not an idol worshiper, I don't worship idols, I worship the
Living God. God, You're my God. Man, do you
know what that is to say that? It's just come before God. God,
you're my God. You're the one I look to. You're
the one I hope in. You're the one I pray to. He
gonna answer that prayer. He gonna listen. When you recognize
God as God, as your God, thou art my God. Hear the voice
of my supplications, many. Oh Lord, oh self-existing one. OH GOD, THE LORD, THE STRENGTH
OF MY SALVATION! You know, the strength of my
salvation is not me hanging on. It's the Lord. It's who saved
me. The strength of anyone's salvation
is WHO SAVED YOU! WHO SAVED YOU! If someone says,
YOU THINK I'M SAVED? Well, tell me WHO SAVED YOU?
Before I can answer that, tell me WHO SAVED YOU? This one who
wants to and You accepted him? No, you missed it. But if the
Lord God of heaven and earth saved you, you're saved. You're saved. Thou has covered my head in the
day of battle. You know that word covered there,
my head, you have put armor, armor over my head. You put a
helmet, you know what Paul said, take the helmet of salvation.
God is my helmet. God's my helmet. Christ is my helmet, is He not
my head? Is He not my covering? O God, the Lord, the strength
of my salvation, Thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.
David recognized that salvation is of the Lord.
David never looked at his 10,000, his 20, his 100,000, his 200,000
men. When David considered his victory,
he considered one person, the Lord. These are just instruments in
God's hands. These men, no matter how many
they are, they are instruments in God's hands. God's the victor. He gives us victory. NOW THE
WICKED, LISTEN HERE, VERSE 8, GRANT NOT, O LORD, THE DESIRE
OF THE WICKED. DON'T GRANT THE DESIRE OF MY
WICKED HEART. LOOK BACK OVER IN PSALM 141,
VERSE 4, INCLINE NOT MY HEART TO ANY EVIL THING. IT'S INTERESTING
HE ASKED GOD NOT TO INCLINE HIS HEART TO ANY EVIL THING. IF GOD LEAVES YOU AND ME ALONE,
GUESS WHAT? OUR HEARTS ARE GOING TO BE INCLINED
TO EVERY EVIL THING. THAT'S THE TRUTH. But David says
over there, INCLINE NOT MY HEART TO ANY EVIL THING, TO PRACTICE
WICKED WORKS WITH MEN THAT WORK INIQUITY, AND LET ME NOT EAT
OF THEIR DAINTIES. You remember when Daniel was
captured? He wouldn't eat of the king's
food. He said, no, I'm not eating. I'm not eating the king's food.
I'm not going to get used to that stuff. I don't know. I just, he just ate, I think
it was Paul's. And his flesh was just as fair.
They were just as fat as if they had been eating the king's food.
He would not, he would not let himself be tempted with that,
with the king's food. And he says here, let me not
eat of their dainties. David didn't even want to be
with the wicked even long enough to eat of their dainties. I don't
want any of it, because I'll tell you why. You'll be fooled
by it. You'll be fooled by it. Grant not, O LORD, the desires
of the wicked, and further not his wicked devices,
lest they exalt themselves. In verse 9, as the wicked here
have no covering for their head, we see here in verse 9, as for
the head of those that compass me about, let the mischief of
their own lips cover them. Let their own judgment of me
fall on them. I thought of a good example,
Haman. You know a lot of people have
let condemnation come out of their mouth against the child
of God and it fell on them. It fell on them. Be careful what
you say. People ought to be careful. Now God hears. Moses said to Israel, God heareth
your murmuring. He hears it. And Old Haman, he
made that gallows and he was hanged on it. Listen here in
Matthew 12, verse 37, For by thy words thou shalt be justified,
and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. Now how powerful are
words! Let your words be few. Let them
be few. Now here's exactly what will
happen to all the Lord's enemies in verse 10. Let burning coal
fall upon them, let them be cast into the fire. If you go over,
and I'm not going to do it right now, I'm out of time. Over in
Revelation 20, 14 and 15, He cast those who were not written
in the land's book of life, He cast them into the lake of fire.
You know, there is such a place. There is such a place. And God cast all the enemies
into that lake of fire. And let not an evil speaker,
at verse 11, listen, here's what this means, an evil speaker,
man of tongues, back to the tongue again, man of tongues is what
that means. It's a gossiper. It's a character
assassin. You know, there are more people
assassinated every day by the tongue than anybody's ever been
shot. I mean, look at the political
ads right now. Is there many more evidence of
the evil of the tongue than the ads we got going on right now?
They're spewing, like you said, that poison of ASP is under their
tongue. You can see it every day. It's
just in our face. The poison of ASP is just being
spit out of your television right at you against these other opponents. That's natural man. That's man. He didn't love anybody but himself. Let not an evil speaker, an evil
tongue be established in the earth. Evil shall hunt the violent
man and overthrow him. A man's own evil, now listen,
a man's own evil shall hunt him down like a hound and devour
him someday. Like Abraham said to that rich
man in hell, son remember, remember. A man's own evil will hunt him
down. like a blood hound and it will devour him. And here in the last two verses,
what the believer knows in verse 12, I know that the LORD will
maintain the cause of the afflicted and the right of the poor. We
have an infallible promise in God's Word that He will maintain
the cause of the afflicted. What's the cause of the afflicted?
Is there not a cause? You know what David said when
he went up against Goliath? You know what the cause of the
afflicted is? GOD'S GLORY! Isn't that our cause here? Is that our cause here? Is that
why we meet here? My first CAUSE in preaching is
to GLORIFY JESUS CHRIST! And it's His business to do the
saving. It's my business to glorify Him. And if I glorify Him, God
the Father will honor it. He'll honor it. He said He would.
Because He said He's made to confide His Word above His name,
and what He said He'll do, and He'll do it. Now here's the last
thing. Here's a sure thing. Here's a
sure thing. I love the sure things of God's
Word. Verse 13, Surely the righteous
shall give thanks unto thy name, the upright shall dwell in thy
presence. We will live to give thanks and praise to his name
forever and ever. I expect to be there, and I expect
you who believe, I expect you to be there. And I expect us
someday to sing his praises together and thank him forever and ever
and ever. But oh God, deliver me from that
evil man, especially the one that's still in me. All right.