All right, brother, if you will,
let's turn to Psalm 63. I've took my title out of verse three,
because our loving kindness is better than life. This is better
than life. And we like living pretty good,
don't we? I pray the Lord be with us, be better than bouillon
for you. And there ain't nothing better
than that. It's the best thing for us, better than life. And
we remember too, this is a song. David wrote this and they sang
it. Just like we just sang some hymns. They sang this song. I don't think we'll weep this
song, I think we'll sing this song. I've heard a friend of
mine been a pastor longer than I've been alive, and he said
he saw a very experienced man. I don't know who. Preached a
long time. Faithful man. A man God made
faithful. And two times in his life, he said he saw that man
get up, and he got about halfway through a message, and he said,
I just ain't got nothing for you. And he closed his Bible,
and he said, And I dwelled on that all day yesterday and the
day before and the day before that. And I thought, Lord, I
don't have nothing. And then how could I read this
and not have something? And then he turned it on. I said,
Lord, you gotta give me a message. And it was just, it was a song
to be sung. This is wonderful. How did I not see it that way?
David's in the wilderness of Judah and he has some enemies. And I want us to notice in the
first eight verses here, this is the attitude we are to have
before we deal with our enemies. This is a good thing to do. Don't
tell me what to do. Believe on God and praise Him
and think on Him. That's a good thing to do. We
ought, out of a debt of gratitude, if He's done something for us
and He's loved us, we ought to love Him. We ought to love Him. is how to deal with enemies.
And what kind of enemies? I got to thinking about that.
David's here in the wilderness in Judah and Saul was coming
and it was David and a whole mess of 600 of them. And they
had to find some place to hide. And Saul was out to kill him.
And our enemies could be those that hate the gospel. vocally,
outwardly. You may have some family members
and say, if you're God's God, I don't want nothing to do with
them. I've had people tell me that, of my family. They're telling the
truth. But some people are enemies just
not across the gospel, just because they're not nice. Some people say, well, the world's
out to get me. Well, maybe I'm a jerk. You know,
maybe I made some dumb decisions. Maybe somebody ought to get on
to me a little bit. Could be enemies of the body.
You ever feel like you got enemies inside your joints? I want to
have a positive outlook. I do. I want to be a jovial person.
And I remember that little thing an old lady said one time. They
said, how was your day? And she said, I had a great day.
And she goes, will power help me get out of bed? And as soon
as I got up, Charlie Horse, he came to visit me. He's stuck
around a while, and as soon as he leaves, Arthur Itis shows
up, and he stays the rest of the day. But he doesn't like
to stay in one place very long, so he takes me from joint to
joint. And then, being gay, he comes and helps me go to sleep.
That's a good outlook, isn't it? That's of a carnal person
that doesn't know God. I hope I could have a good outlook
being one that's had Christ revealed to them. Enemies that inhabit your mind.
You ever had enemies there? Been all along. Would this be
true on a deserted island? The thoughts that you have. That
person that looks you back in the mirror, that body of death
that's the bulk of us. It's got the same name that new
man has, don't it? They're both called Kevin. That's
my, seems to be my worst enemy most days. How should I deal
with that enemy of the mind? How should I deal with what we
call enemies of providence that we're always murmuring and bellyaching
about in our jobs or in our bodies? And what about those that really
are that hate the gospel and they're really going? First eight
verses, stay with me. Psalm 63, let's begin this way.
O God, thou art my God. Early will I seek thee. My soul
thirsteth for thee. My flesh longeth for thee in
a dry and thirsty land where no water is, to see thy power
and thy glory. So as I have seen thee in the
sanctuary, because thy loving kindness is better than life,
my lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while
I live. I will lift up my hands in thy
name. My soul shall be satisfied as
with the marrow and fatness. My mouth shall praise thee with
joyful lips, joyful lips, when I remember thee upon my bed and
meditate on thee in the night watches. Because thou has been
my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.
My soul followeth hard after thee, thy right hand upholdeth
me. Now in verse nine, David gets
to those enemies. He was hot out in the wilderness
when Saul came to kill him and they just liberated that city.
And David said, well, this city protect me or they give me over
to Saul. And the Lord said, they'll give you over to Saul. He said,
can I stay over there? And the Lord said, no. So he
had to go run and hide, didn't he? And while he was surrounded,
and they were looking for him, and he was hiding, he penned
this song. This is what he was singing.
He was whistling, humming, and this is what come out of his
hand. He was in dire straits, wasn't he? You think having 600
people, that's a battalion-sized element, and then said, we gotta
hide. That's a formidable opposition, isn't it? Now he brings up those
enemies. Verse nine, for those that seek
my soul to destroy it shall go into the lower parts of the earth.
They shall fall by the sword. They shall be a portion for the
foxes. I thought that's 10 verses, isn't
it? Eight of those is just focusing on the Lord and his mercies and
praising him and thanking him and having joyful lips. And then
two, he brought up the things concerning his enemies. And I
thought, boy, wouldn't that be wonderful? I pray the Lord would
make me focus on him, eight out of 10 verses. If I could focus
on him and his mercies and the good things he's done for me,
count your blessings. I feel terrible. Okay, get you
out a pen and a piece of paper and start thinking for everything,
thankful for the Lord, either carnal or spiritual or whatever.
Just start writing stuff down. Thank you for blood. What about carnally? Thank you
for food and housing and clothes. Thank you for air conditioning.
I appreciate that. Heat in the wintertime. Just
start writing them down. Turn that brown upside down.
If we can focus on him eight out of 10 times, or eight out
of 10 days of the month, or eight out of 10 hours of the day, or
eight out of 10 minutes, or eight out of 10 seconds. Early. before the sun comes up. Would
that impact my attitude or outlook on life at all? Would I have
permanent creases because I frown all the time? Or would I have
some crow's feet because I smile all the time? What would that
make my face look like? Would that change it some? Verse
11. But the king shall rejoice in
God. Everyone that sweareth by him shall glory. But the mouth
of them that speak lies shall be stopped. That's good, isn't
it? Don't you hate lies? You ever
hear lies? I don't like them. I've told
them, and I thought, why did I say that? I didn't even like
it, and I'm the one that said it. Can we have this? Can we have ice cream? Well,
we'll see. We ain't going to say the answer is no if I say, well,
that's what my parents always told me. Let me think about it.
That meant no, right? Just tell me no. And that's just
carnal things. I can't stand hearing people
lie on God. And I can't stand them telling young people or
my family or my friends or you or anybody else things that God
doesn't say. That's wrong. I don't like it. And there'll come a day when
all that nonsense and that lie will be over. and that ignorance
will be over. I look forward to that. I look
forward to that. That's the Lord's doing. It'll
be stopped, won't it? Let's go through this and just, I just
want to touch on a few things and talk with you. Things that
just stuck with me as I read through this this week and when
it stood out. Here in verse one, this is a
Psalm of David whenever he was in the wilderness of Judah. Now
remember, he's pinned down. The enemy's looking for him.
And so he writes this, Oh God, Thou art my God. A lot of people
say that, don't they? A lot of people talk about God.
Many say that there is a God. I believe in God. But you know
what they say? They tell him no. How often I've done that. In the
Lord's providence, something happened. You drop something
or flat tire, have a wreck or something breaks. No! No! We're
telling God no. That's two out of 10. That ain't
the first eight, is it? They're saying here, oh God.
There's a few people. Many people say they believe
in God and they have a God. And it's their God, but that's
a lowercase g, isn't it? Because he does whatever they
want him to. And he bends their will and they can gang up on
him and get him to do things. Let's have big old prayer lists
and get my neighbor's cousin's dog sitter to not have cancer
no more. That makes my blood boil. We gotta remember, David starts
out, who's he talking to? I wish mankind could get a hold
of who they're talking to. This is God. Our God is God. And it's not just that he's a
sovereign, omnipresent, omnipotent God that rules and reigns. He's
our God. How could he be our God? Well,
he's God over everybody and everybody's God. Well, yeah, he owns everything.
He's revealed himself to us. We didn't deserve that. There's
a great revival in San Diego County right now. How many people
in this county deserve to be saved? None. Lord sent me here
to preach to one. Guess what? That's a big job. That's miraculous. That's the
work like we saw last hour, salvation of the Lord. That's impossible
with men. That's who our God is. And he's revealed himself
to us. And what revealed Christ to us? Well, you know, I got
me a good degree in theology. I got a master's in theology. and dead dog, doctor of divinities
and all those things. No, that's not it. Well, the
traditions of our fathers, my mommy and daddy was believers
and their mommy and daddy's believers and we've just been believers
all the way back to Adam. Not most cases, no, they don't know
God. We didn't receive us from traditions
of our fathers and mothers. Only God can reveal God. And
he's going to do it through the preaching of the gospel. How
are we going to have faith? By hearing. I don't think so,
Kevin. Well, Lord said hearing, so take
it up Him. He ain't the one that's lost,
mankind is. He's found us, and He's our God. And that's something,
where is He at? I've had people tell me that.
Trials would come on my life, and they'd say, Kevin, you gave
so much for religion. They don't know. They don't know
anything. Trying to be nice as they can be. They said, you gave
so much, I can't believe God would do something like that
to you, or give you that illness, or that trial that you had, or
that whatever. Why wouldn't he? The heathen
asked, David, where's your God now? Where is now their God? And he said, but our God's in
the heavens. And it ain't just that he's up there and twiddling
his thumbs waiting on us to see what we'll do. He hath done whatsoever
he hath pleased. Don't that make you comfortable? God's on his throne. And we know
him. He's revealed himself to us.
How much is milk down at Albertsons? Who cares? God's revealed himself
to us. The God that is God is on his
throne, and that's my God. He's proved it to me. What'd
Thomas say? Come here, Thomas, give me your hand. Come here,
boy. Come here, son. Put your hand right here. Feel it. He
said unto him, my Lord and my God. That's an old gray-haired
man up in, the big man upstairs. Don't you say those things. That's
the Lord. He rules and reigns. It's our
king up there. Well, it says, Oh God, thou art
my God. Early will I seek thee. Early. When is that? Well, let's talk
to our youth for a little while. Young people, this is very important. This is a good thing. We have
so many distractions. This is proof the Lord's taking
his hand off us. Used to a man got up before the sun come up
and went and plowed all day and worked hard and got a little
bit of food and put it up. And he was in bed by dark because
he's wore out and tired. And they had time to go out there
and think of this, get up early and read the scriptures and go
out and think on what the Lord said in the scriptures while
you're plowing, not looking back. Look in the head and you'll have
crooked lines. That's what he said in his word, wasn't it? Even
the plowing of the wicked is disgusting in his sight. It's
evil in his sight. And you think about those things
all day long and you talk to your children and you sit down
and have time to do things and you encourage them. And then
you went to bed early. Early to bed and early to rise.
It was a simple life, isn't it? You had time for services. You
had time to get up and prepare yourself and pray. Lord, give
that man a message before you got down there. Time to get ready
and anoint yourself. Wash up. Get your good clothes. Start your Sunday best. Put your
Sunday best on. Best thing I got. We're gonna
go hear about the Lord. He's gonna be exalted today. What
about now? Well, we have such conveniences
and technology and it's all distractions. Everything's something to, we
gotta squeeze in time to read the Lord's word. We gotta squeeze
in time to make it to services on time. And we gotta squeeze
in time to pray. Well, I'll do that tomorrow.
I have to get this stuff done today. Maybe your soul be required
of you tonight. We think it's like, so with these,
we have time to tell our children, why do we have Passover? The
Lord said, this is just a token. So that way at your dinner table
and your children say, Dave, why are we doing this? He said,
because God was pleased because of his son's blood to bring us
out of Egypt. That's where we was. We was in bondage. Tell
that to your children and your children seek him early. Why
are you young? Solomon said that. Wisest man born of Adam. We ought
to listen to him. And Moab took that wisest man
and moved his hand by the Holy Ghost. He said, remember now
thy creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come
not. Oh, they're coming, even if you
remember them while you're young. I promise. I know from experience. But that's
a good thing. Seek him while you're young.
Seek him while you're young. Many people in this room, as
far as I know, didn't have no gospel to be preached to you.
Didn't have parents to put you underneath the gospel. They didn't
know the gospel. There wasn't nobody here to do it. And then now there's young
people. That's them young people growing
up. Seek him young, while you're young. Hear these things. Lord,
a blessing. You're going to have a hard enough
life anyway. Seek Him while you're young.
That's for young people. Seek the Lord now, before your
mind gets wrapped up in this world. Seek Him. Seek your Creator. Learn these things. And we ought
to teach them. And that's like when that child
asks the daddy, why are we doing this Passover? Well, what about
the preacher? It's the preacher's job. We ought to have programs
for the children. No, I got to preach to mommy and daddy so
they can tell the children at the dinner table. I ain't there at your house at
dinner time. We learn it here, and put the abuse out there,
right? But that's also early in the day. That's for young
people, not us old folks. Well, I'm old too. We need to
seek him early in the day, in the daytime. Wake up early. Wake
up early. Don't sleep late in the mornings,
it ain't good. Go to bed early, get up early. Seek a word from
the Lord early, wake up early. Read his word or pray to him
early or read a bulletin or sing to him early in the morning. It's a good thing, it's good.
Sets a tone for our day, doesn't it? You ever had days when you
don't do it? It ain't gonna work out good. Get up before that
sun rises. David said in Psalm 143, "'Cause
me to hear thy loving kindness in the morning, "'for in thee
do I trust. "'Cause me to know thy way wherein
I should walk, "'for I lift up my soul unto thee.'" Lord, today's
your day. Be with me, I need you. The covers
never get thrown back and I set up straight. Seek him early. Seek him early. What would make us seek him first
thing? What would make us seek him early? Your eyes wake up,
that alarm clock goes off, and you say, Lord, be with me today.
Let me see you today. He says, my soul thirsteth for
thee. My flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where
no water is. I'm in this flesh and ain't no
water in this flesh. I'm in this land here, there ain't nothing.
What in this world, homes and families and jobs and entertainment
and activities and pick one, security of retirement or whatever,
what satisfies your soul? Any of that? Some of you saying
no. Some of you's with me and you
saying no. None of it does, does it? I thirst for you. I thirst
for you. My soul thirsteth for thee. He
said over in Psalm 42, he was writing a song for the sons of
Korah. Imagine that one. As the heart panteth after the
water brooks, just like a deer is panting for water, so panteth
my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for
the living God. When shall I come to appear before
God? When? I want to hear from him
today, and if I can't be with him today, let me hear from him.
But maybe today I can be a peer for him. I could be with him
forever. I want to be where he is. If we're thirsty and we thirst
after Him, we're going to be where He's exalted and where
other people are thirsty to hear from Him too. We want to work,
we got to get a drop. I need a drop of water today. Don't
we? And we want to appear before Him. Do we thirst for those things?
Do I thirst to be in His presence? We may like Him, see Him at times,
just to smell Him, to hear Him. Our Lord there in John 7 said,
in that last day, that great feast, he stood up and he cried. He wouldn't boo-hoo him because
he was defeated. He yelled out loud so people would hear him.
If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth
on me as the scripture hath said, he's fulfilling the scripture,
out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. If the Lord's
made you thirst for him, you know what's going to come out
of your belly? Him. You're going to talk about Him
and His power and His goodness and what He's done for you. That's
just so. It's just so. If there ain't
no river in there, ain't no water going to come out because you're
dried up. That's just so. That Samaritan woman, she came
to get water out of the well, didn't she? She came to get water that was
in the well and sitting on that well was the living water. He
had to go down there and talk to her, didn't he? And you know
what happened? He talked to her, had that whole interaction there
in John 4. And they went back and forth,
and he told her everything she'd ever thought and everything.
He said, you drank it. She said, give me some of that water. I don't
want a drink of that. I don't feel like walking up here no more. He said, I'm
not living water. I'm not living water. And you
know what she did? She went up there to get water by herself, didn't
she? The woman left her water pot. Broken cisterns. That's what she was carrying
around, Cass. All that old experience. And that's the way we always
done it. She left it. She threw that thing away. And
she went her way into a city and saith to the men, come, see
a man which told me all things I ever did. Is this not the Christ? Come hear him. Come hear him. Do you want to tell others where
water is? I know for a fact there's men
around this nation that tell people there's water right here.
I know it. They told me about it. I said,
hey, go down there. That's how you got here. Why not? I tell other people. Well, you
ain't an hour and a half or something from a gospel church. Go there.
45 minutes. What's that? It's nothing. You get a ride
in an air-conditioned vehicle the whole way. Or a train or
something that ain't... A bicycle's better than walking. You walk
for a year or so without having anything, you get a bicycle.
I got one in Germany. And man, I thought I had a Mercedes. That
thing was great. It was convenient. I appreciated
that bicycle. Go there. Go where there's water.
If we've been made thirsty and we've been satisfied with that
living water, you're going to tell other people that you need
to come get you a drink. That old mountain genius said,
if preaching is one beggar telling another beggar where he found
bread, and if that's so, witnessing is telling a thirsty person where
you found water. Come have a drink, isn't it?
I'll read this to you. Amos 8 says, Behold, the days
come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine into the
land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, not physically,
but the hearing of the word of the Lord. The Lord has to bless it, but
I want to do a good job. It's all his doing. But can we
tap that well? Can we put sprinklers out? What can we do? Is that well
high for us today? Seek him early. Wake up early
in the morning and say, Lord, what can I do today? You gave
me water. I got brethren out there. I want
them to have water. Make me a diligent servant. They shall wander from
sea to sea, from north even to east, and shall run to and fro,
seek the word of the Lord, and they shall not find it. In that
day shall fair virgins and young men." Oh, they're great people,
right? That's good upstanding folks. They'll faint for thirst. I sold thirst after ham. We need
water. That's a precious thing. But
more precious than physical water, we need ham. What's refreshing about that
water that we thirst for? What do we need to see often?
What do we need to drink often? There in verse two. To see thy
power and thy glory. I have to see your power and
your glory. So as I have seen there in the
sanctuary. Lord, show me you're on your
throne. Show me this glory is not mine or not somebody else's,
it's yours. That's what we need to see. David
experienced that. And I do too. And maybe you have.
And you see the enemies of the Lord, you see our enemies, and
their eyes stood out with fatness, don't they? And all their children
are happy, and none of them's locked away, and they're all
good citizens, and everybody gets along good, they ain't in
fighting, and they all come over for the holidays, and not one
of them's trying to kill you. like David's was, and they're
building churches. Nice ones, man, I mean, with
pews. And they're building on, they're adding on, and putting
additions to it, and getting bigger parking lots. David was soaked down about that. He was just plagued with trials
the whole time. All that goodness was going on
with everybody else. What was David seeing when he saw their
eyes bug out with fatness? He was seeing man's power. He would see a man's glory out
there, wouldn't he? What do you see in the world?
Is that what you think? That's what I think. Look off. Business is
a booming, man. What's wrong here? What's wrong
with me? Must be my fault. It has to be.
We're getting steamrolled. Hang your head down low. but
in his house, in the Lord's house. He said, when I thought to know
this, it was too painful for me. I couldn't even think about
these things. I'm just getting sick to my stomach until Psalm 73, 17. Until
I went into the sanctuary of God, then I understood their
end. Oh, I want a 911 twin turbo too. I love Porsches. They look great,
I always have. I like an old one. What's that? It's a hunk of metal. God revealed
his son to our God. I saw that in where? In a sanctuary. In a sanctuary. It says to see
thy power and thy glory so as I have seen in thy sanctuary.
Where is that? This upper room. Where does God
reveal himself? In a living room or a Bible study
in a laundry room somewhere? No, when he gathers his people
together for the preaching of the gospel, not the discussion
of the gospel, not the here's what I think or here's what Gil
said, the preaching of the gospel. And he sends a message through
old clay broken pots that ain't worth nothing to the hearts of
his people. That's here. Do we get a fresh
drink of cool water when we come here? Does that get us through
for a couple more days? Do we look forward to it? Wanting
a word from God? Wanting to be refreshed? This
is that upper room we've been looking at. The Lord has to teach
us these things. I went through a course one time,
and they said this is a progressive course. It was math-based. And
if you didn't learn one plus one's two, you ain't gonna handle
division. You know what I mean? You have to learn a little bit
at a time, but you have to build on what you'd already learned.
You know what the Lord does? We're saved, we're holy, fit for glory
right now. But we grow in grace. They say,
well, I drank water yesterday. Well, I'm going to have to have
water today too, right? Don't worry about yesterday. Worry about today. Verse three says, because thy
loving kindness is better than life. Because your loving kindness
is better than life. Well, it's the biggest part of
my life. It's a central part of my life. It's better than
life. Because of that, my lips shall
praise thee. Loving kindness, I told you last hour, is an Old
Testament word for grace. God is love, and he's kind. How
is he kind? He's merciful to sinners. And
he can be both. He can be justice and grace. He can be both because of the
person and the work of his son. Because of that, because of Christ,
because of the Lord's loving kindness. My lips shall praise
thee. He's not a big part of our life. He's not just a central figure
of our life. He's life. And hearing it's better
than being in this physical life, isn't it? Paul told that church
at Corinth. He said, if you be risen with
Christ, if. This ain't everybody. We wouldn't
declare this to everybody. The person born of Adam, he's
just talking to the Lord's people. He said, if you be risen with
Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth
on the right hand of God. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God. Seek his glory. Wouldn't it be good to wake up
at 4.42 a.m. and say, Lord, you be glorified
today. Make me walk in your paths, and
that way you are glorified. I know you've said it's gonna
happen, but I'm asking anyway. I'm gonna petition regardless.
Set your affections on things above, not on things of the earth,
for you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. When
Christ, our life, it's italicized who he is. Christ, our life,
he's life, shall appear, then ye shall also appear with him
in glory. When he's coming, be there that fast, twinkling of
an eye, we're with him, made like him, forever. Because of
that, because of him, He's revealed himself to us, he's our God.
I seek him early, I thirst for him. Now my lips sang praises
to him. Verse four says thus, will I
bless thee while I live. I will lift up my hands to thy
name. When that new creation's just pumping, Peter says stir
up that new creation in you and that new man stirred up. We bless
the Lord, don't we? Do we lift up our hands and make
a show in church, so everybody can see us and our neighbors
can say, Kevin got the Holy Ghost this weekend? No. Everything
I put my hand to. The Lord gave me that job. One foot's
clean in toilets. That's good enough for government
work. That's the Lord's toilet. I know some people don't watch
modern television. I know a lady, she said, I only watch Andy Griffin.
There was no time for sergeants. Anyway, they told him to clean
the bathroom. He polished the hot and cold off. They couldn't even.
That's working unto the Lord, isn't it? If my heart stirred
up and I think of him, everything I do, I'm going to give it all
I got. I want to live that way. You'll sleep good that way. You
won't have no trouble falling asleep. I'll bless thee while
I live. And what's that to? I talked
before about them enemies. What about aches and pains? My right calf muscle's a lot
smaller than my left calf muscle. Both of them small, but you can
tell the difference. Because my ankle's messed up, my knee's
messed up, my hip's messed up, the whole right side's messed
up. Why? What's the Lord teaching me in that? You got some aches
and pains and woes? What's the Lord teaching you?
You got some providence that you're just overwhelmed by day in, day
out for decades? Lord's gonna be glorified in
it, isn't he? Can you see that yet? Well, no,
but knowing that he's gonna be glorified in it, that gives you
a little breathing room, don't it? Gives you a little joy. That's a little
drop of water. I gotta tell this too. I don't
know if any of y'all have ever been real thirsty. If you were super thirsty and
I said, I got a whole jar of pickle juice for you. Or if you
want something sweet, I've got sweet tea. Not like sweet tea,
I mean where you gotta chew it. I don't want that. If I'm thirsty,
I want water. It's one thing I need. Well,
we'll sugar it up a little bit. No, we shouldn't. You don't want
to put pickle juice in the IV, do you? No, put water in there.
That's what I need. The Lord's teaching us something,
that he's gonna be glorified, isn't he? Verse five says, my
soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth
shall praise thee with joyful lips. Whenever we see him, when
we taste of him, it's like the best bone broth you're ever gonna
get. Talk about better than bouillon.
That's meat, that's marrow, that gets to the bone. That's what
I need, that's what life is, isn't it? I'll be satisfied. I know what
Jacob was, Joseph sent all his things, and he said, that's good
enough. That's enough, I'll take that, let's go. Where's them
wagons? I said, them messengers, I'm ready. Off we could see him. My mouth
shall praise thee with joyful lips. When we're surrounded by
enemies, outside or inside, or the body or the mind or whatever,
you ever praise the Lord? You get down dark, you say, why
me? And we feel so sorry for ourselves, we throw a pity party,
start singing under him, praise him. Like I said, write it down,
get you a pen and a piece of paper, or start singing. Oh, how merciful,
how merciful, blessed Lord, how merciful thou art to me. You mad? Good thing, it's good instruction,
isn't it? If he's got children, he teaches
them, and he's teaching us something here. That's a good, his name
is wonderful. His name, I thought all those
choruses, I found that chorus book back in the office and used
to be a bunch of copies of it, I got a few of them, but ain't
no music to it. Lord might be pleased to give
us a musician someday, but. He is the mighty king, master
of everything. His name is wonderful. Jesus,
my Lord. He's the great shepherd, the
rock of all ages. Almighty God is he. I sang that
from a little tiny kid. I want these kids to know those
things. Bow down before him, love and adore him. His name
is wonderful. Jesus, my Lord. Sang about him. Has Arthur Otis showed up today?
We'll put some Bengay on it and then go talk to him, sing about
him, right? Look at what he's like. Where do we do that? Where
do we do that? We've come into this house and
gathered in his name to worship him, in his sanctuary. Here's
where it is. If somebody's out by themselves,
Darwin said that, I think while you all was down there. If somebody's
out all by themselves, out in the wilderness, in the desert,
you're gonna drive first. I can't live like that. Could you drink
water twice a year or once a year? Well, we go down to the conference
area, you're gonna starve to death. I care for him, I want
him to be healthy and happy. Don't you? Kevin, that's mean. No, it ain't.
Well, that's good. Look to him, be where the Lord's
people are. Verse six. When I remember thee upon my
bed and meditate on thee in the night watches. And you lay down
and go to sleep. Remember, we got up early. That's where it
started. Wake up early. Don't be slothful. Get up early
in the morning. Seek the Lord right then. Seek
His glory. Seek His kingdom. Then do what He's gave you to
do that day. And the night before you go to bed, I pray this for
me. I want to hear these things. I want to think these things.
You lay down and think on Him when you lay down. Well, some
of y'all have to get up in the middle of the night for whatever
reasons. You got night watches. I've done a lot of night watches.
Setting up guard towers and things. On a wall, imagine that. Lord
taught me some things then to teach me sitting on this wall.
And the night watches. You wake up in the middle of
the night, think about him. Think about him. I try not to, because
I can't go back to sleep, especially on Saturday nights. If I start
thinking about what his word says, I ain't going to go back
to sleep. It's sweet every time. I think I need sleep. I don't.
I need him. Think on him, think on him. Why? Because thou hast been my help,
verse seven, therefore in the shadow of thy wings I rejoice.
Whenever I'm under your atonement, that's the firmament we looked
at in Genesis and creation, that covering. I look at your robe
of righteousness that you put over me, like them hens that
gather their chicks underneath their wings. When I see you,
Donald, that's you, you are my covering. That's what I have
to have. When I see that, I'll rejoice. Where was David? Hiding out from
his enemies, wasn't he? He's writing this. I want to
write this when I'm hiding out from my enemies. Verse eight,
my soul followeth hard after thee. That means it cleaves to. Well, I like those doctrines
of grace. I want to get a hold of his feet.
I don't want to let go. I've said this a bunch. Every
preacher I know gives their illustrations 500 times and I like them. They
always say that and give a warning. Like, I know I've told you this
a bunch, If I say I love that woman, I'm a good, faithful husband,
and I love her so much. When was the last time you saw
her? Well, it's been about six months. Well, where have you been? Well, I
sleep in that church. She sleeps up there at the house. I just
see her on weekends or something. What? You'd say that marriage
ain't worth nothing. Problems, right? Young people
tell you that. That ain't right. That ain't right. Because he's
been our help, we're under his wings. Our soul, it follows him
hard. At all costs, we cleave to him.
Cleave to him. And thy right hand upholdeth
me. How do I do that? Well, I'm just a good, faithful
Christian and I'm mature. No. Christ, the right hand of
God made me do it. He's brought me. And I ask him
to. Now the enemies. But those that seek my soul to
destroy it shall go into the lower parts of the earth. They shall fall by the sword.
They shall be a portion for foxes." David had been through a lot
of war. He'd seen a lot of combat. And those people that die in
combat, do you know what they do with their bodies? Nothing. They just laid there. And foxes
would come out and eat them. and it would tear flesh off the
bones and then the rats would come and the dogs would come.
It's a gruesome, gruesome sight. It's a horrible thing to see
a human body drugged by a dog that's been dead for three or
four days. It's terrible. And that ain't a drop in the
bucket compared to what the Lord has for the enemies of his son. Kiss the son lest he be angry.
And that ain't And I'm on the right team. And
that's what them mean old people, I won't plead with them. That's
the outcome. Men and women, eternity bound
souls is what I'm looking in the eyes of right now. Foxes, rats, and dogs. What a
horrible thing. Lord said that about Herod, didn't
he? The Pharisees came and they said, get out of here. You better
depart hence or Herod will kill you. You know what the Lord said? Go ye and tell that fox that
just eats on death. Behold, I cast out devils and
I do cures today and tomorrow. I ain't going nowhere. And the
third day I'll be perfected. Tell him I ain't budging. He
came to me by his father's business, wasn't he? He came to defeat
the enemies that we had. Why do I need to worry about
the enemies? That's the Lord's battle, isn't it? We just wait,
that's what the scriptures say. Wait on him. Wait on him. Verse 11,
but the king, that's a lowercase king, David's speaking to himself,
and that's us too, isn't it? But the king shall rejoice in
God. Those that he's made kings and
priests, they shall. They shall. Everyone that sweareth
by him shall glory, but the mouth of them that speak lies shall
be stopped. What a day that'll be, wouldn't it? When my Redeemer
I will see, and I'll look upon His face, and behold just the
beauty of His grace, and all the evil thoughts that's in me,
and the flesh that's corrupt, that's gone. So we is nothing
but sin. What's that? I don't even remember. You remember? Now hush, he's
talking. Let's hear what he has to say.
That'd be beautiful, wouldn't it? I pray eight out of the next
10 days, eight out of the next 10 hours for you, we can rejoice
in him and sing hymns to him in our hearts. So let's pray
together. Father, thank you for this word. Thank you for this
song you penned to your servant, David. Make us rejoice or make
us thankful in everything. In your providence, in your creation,
in this creation that we're housed in, Lord, in this body. Give us hearts that rejoice in
Christ. Forgive us for when we don't. We'll be with our brethren
that aren't here with us today and those throughout this world,
Lord, that are surrounded by enemies. Give them peace and
comfort. Make them rejoice. Thank you
for this hour, Lord. Thank you for this upper room
you've given us to hear of your son. It's because of him we ask
it. Amen.