Morning. Good seeing everybody. If you will, let's open to Psalm
49. Psalm 49. The psalmist wrote this and we
say it and ask the questions that are in there. We're given
the answers that's given to us and we know the answers and it's
our Lord speaking. And he says he's going to preach
to his people, to all people. The message is going to go forth.
He's going to provide a question for himself, for us. He's going
to tell us what the answer to that question is not. He asked a question and this
right here is not the answer. We need to know what it's not
just as much as we know what it is, don't we? He's going to
teach us that. And then he's going to give us
the answer to this question he asked, what the answer truly
is. And he's going to give us some instruction, how to think
and how to act. And God does that. He's God. Watch it as we read
through it. Let's just, we'll go back through
it again and expound on it, hopefully. Here's Psalm 49. We'll read the
whole Psalm. Hear this, all ye people. Give ear all ye inhabitants
of the world, both low and high, rich and poor together. My mouth
shall speak of wisdom, and the meditation of my heart shall
be of understanding. I will incline my ear to a parable. I will open my dark saying upon
the heart. Wherefore should I fear in the
days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me
about? They that trust in their wealth,
and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches, none of them
can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for
him. For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth
forever. It's finished forever. That he
should still live, forever, and not see corruption. For he seeth
that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish,
and leave their wealth to others. Their inward thought is that
their houses shall continue forever, and their dwelling places to
all generations. They call their lands after their
own names. Nevertheless, man being in honor
abideth not. He is like the beasts that perish.
This their way is their folly, yet their posterity approve their
sayings." Selah. What they're doing is wrong,
and all their kids watching them, they said, that's good. Look
what grandpa and grandma did. Look what daddy did. And they
said, stop thinking about that. Like sheep, they are laid in
the grave. Death shall feed on them, and
the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning, and
their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.
It's what it's not. Here's the answer. But God will
redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for he shall receive
me. See, stop, think about that. Be not thou afraid when one is
made rich, when the glory of his house is increased, for when
he dieth he shall carry nothing away. His glory shall not descend
after him, though while he lived he blessed his soul. And men
will praise thee when thou doest well to thyself. He shall go
to the generation of his fathers. They shall never see light. Man
that is in honor, highly esteemed, thought highly of other people,
and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish. My Sunday
school teacher taught me when we went through this as a young
child. Those that have such high standing,
and they're so religious, and they carry titles, and they are
learned, and ordained, and have all this stuff, but they don't
understand this. There ain't no different in their
death than a dog that's dead on the side of the road, and
just a beast that has no soul. And then on the way home that
morning, or that evening, guess what I saw on my way to my house?
There's a dog dead on the side of the road. I pray God give
me some understanding. No matter what all the titles
and the honors and the well-wishing and the phylacteries and the
yelling or the whispering in the streets is, all the praise
of men, if God don't give us understanding, if he don't open
up his dark sayings and his parables and those things that we cannot
understand because we don't have our own light, you'd be better
off being a dog dead on a street. They have an end. That's just
it for them. What a horrible thing, isn't
it? What a warning. But this is the Psalmist speaking and
writing this, but this is also our Lord first, isn't it? He
says in verse one, Psalm 49 verse one, hear this, all ye people,
look what it says, give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world,
both low and high, rich and poor together, male, female, black,
white, Republican, Democrat, My pastor got in trouble before
1965 because he said, Lord saves all people, black folks, white
folks. And then that was okay for about 20, 30 years. And then
now it's probably going to be trouble again. But everybody
needs to hear this. Who needs to hear the gospel?
All. All. What message should I preach
if we had visitors? What message should I preach?
We had a whole room full of real rich folks. or drunks. What if we had princes? All them
Saudi princes were in one room and I was going to preach to
them. What if it was nothing but prostitutes? My job don't change. The message
don't change. No matter the audience, the illustrations
may be different in different cultures or languages or something
like that, but the message doesn't change, no matter the outcome.
If I'm lifted up on a shoulder and people hug me and sing my
praises and I say, put me down. Everybody takes me out to lunch
and hugs on me, or people pick up rocks and say, I'm gonna kill
him if I can. No matter the outcome, no matter the audience, no matter
my situation, if I'm in a, like Joseph, I'm a prime minister
of Egypt, or if I'm in prison. Everybody needs to hear Christ
and Him crucified. The person and the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. They need to hear that all flesh
is grass. That's everybody. All. A wise lawyer, that was God's
preacher back in 1950, said, if you're wrong on a fall, you're
wrong on it all. Boy, what wisdom that is. That lawyer knew something,
he was telling the truth. Look at that next to her, true
man, true woman. All flesh is grass, salvations
of the Lord, behold your God. Well, what if it's a room full
of believers? That says, hear this, all ye people. That's what
believers need to hear. But what about unbelievers? That's
what they need to hear. What about children? That's what
children need to hear. Little bitty ones. Little bitty folks. Well, we ought to have a special
room for them. They need to hear Christ and Him crucified plainly
and train them up to hear somebody that's telling them who He is.
They may not depart from it when they get older. I told you these
things. My children sat right there, and they sat with us when
I was real little, they sat in front of us when I got a little
bigger, and if they were bad, I bopped them on the head, and they sat
behind us, kind of, because I'm showing off. The other part,
and the intention of it, is that whenever I die, or I'm not here,
they're trained up to go to services whenever Christ is proclaimed.
I've done it on purpose, to be an example, for you, and whoever
else comes, because He said so. He said so, because they need
to hear the same as anybody else needs to hear. And mommies and daddies
need to hear that whenever they're at their tables in the evenings.
And the children said, what's this mean? They have some understanding,
not just knowledge. And they said, here's why we're
having this feast, son. That's why they had the token
of the Passover. The Lord said, I'm doing this because when your
children ask you, why are we doing this? Why have we come
to church? Why did I put a tile on this morning? and a jacket
and the most reverent clothing that I have to come here to this
place every week. Why? To worship an Almighty God. Well, you getting something out
of it? Yeah, getting to worship the Almighty God. That's why
we're here. You want a warm fuzzy feeling?
Well, if you worship Almighty God and you know Him, you'll
have that. It'll come. But that don't matter. It don't matter
if I'm fed. We're here to worship the Almighty
God. And if we worship the Almighty God, you'll be fed. I don't want to get in the next
hour. I'll keep going. He says in verse three, my mouth shall
speak of wisdom. And the meditation of my heart
shall be of understanding. If David wrote this, whoever
the psalmist was, I get it. I want the only thing to come
out of my mouth is Christ our wisdom. and I see the results
of that. Lord's people get happy. Here's
what God says, and everybody say, but, but, but, but, but,
but, but. Here's the intent of this passage.
Well, yeah, but over here it says this. Well, that ain't the
intent of that passage neither. Cherry picking thing. I want
Christ to come out of my mouth, and then in my heart of understanding,
I want the Lord to teach me understanding so I can give knowledge and understanding. That's why he said people after
his own heart that he sends, preachers after his own heart,
will feed you with knowledge and understanding. That's what's
in my heart. I want to have that so I can
give it to you. But this is our Lord speaking, who is wisdom.
My mouth shall speak of wisdom. That's the only thing that's
going to come out of his mouth. If he tells a joke, it's wise
and good and right, and you hush and learn laughing. I don't know. All that comes out of him is
wisdom. It's perfection and goodness. He don't do what's right. What
he does is right. And the meditation of my heart
shall be of understanding. The only thing in it is that
he understands everything. True understanding. I will incline
my ear to a parable. I will open my dark saying upon
the harp. He owns it. It's his saying.
And that's dark to us. We don't understand everything
and you can't figure him out. He has to reveal this. And I
tell you what, when he does, you'll be singing it. I'm a sinner
saved by grace. I'm a sinner. That's the first
thing I'm going to be saying. And he did to save it. And it's his
grace. And we thank him for it. He has to reveal that. He gives
a dark saying. That's a parable. I will open
my dark savings. Those disciples came to him.
He gave the types of here's. He said there's going to be some
stony ground here's and some rough paths here's and there's
going to be some ground because he's the farmer. I'm going to plow their hearts.
And then some poor old dumb fellows will come by and water. I'll
make it grow. He gave this of the four types
of ground, the four types of here's. And the disciples came
and said, why speakest thou unto them in parables? Why are you
saying these things about farming or fishing or whatever? Why do
you do that? And these servants and masters
that come and he gives talents, why do you keep doing these parables?
And he said, because it's given unto you to know the mysteries
of the kingdom of heaven. But not to them is it given.
It's not given to them, it's given to you to understand that.
And because he wants to. It pleased him to speak in parables.
He said, for whosoever hath to him shall be given and he shall
have more abundance That understanding the Lord gives, that's, wait
a second, this is Christ. He's the ark. He's the brazen
serpent. And then we start seeing him
more, don't we? He gives us understanding and we start understanding a
little bit more. And this was needed because I'm a sinner.
Well, mankind's sinners. Everybody else is, we always
point with five fingers, don't we? Man is sinful, this man's sinful.
This was needed, wasn't it? He said, I've given it to you.
have more abundantly therefore speak out of them in parables
because they seeing see not and hearing hear not neither do they
understand say these things and they don't get it because he
hasn't revealed his dark saying still they're without excuse
aren't they He said, for the people's heart
is wax gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their
eyes are closed, and they get tired of it. Precept on precept,
right? I've heard the same thing 5,000
times. Tell me something new. It just
gets old. I'm gonna take a nap. I act like
I'm with you, but this is just old hat, man. He said, their
hearts have waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing.
They've closed their eyes, and lest at any time they should
see with their eyes and hear with their ears, or should understand
with the heart, that's where the understanding is, it's in
the heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed
are your eyes, for they see. Blessed are your ears, for they
hear. He said, for verily I say to
you that many prophets and kings, he says over in Luke, many prophets
and righteous men have desired to see those things which you
see and have not seen them. They desire to hear the things
you hear, not hear them. Well, who opened up that parable? The Lord asked him, the apostle
said, who do men say that I am? They had good things to say.
Well, the prophets, and maybe somebody come back from the dead
and all these things. He said, that's good. Who do you say that I am?
That's fine and dandy. Who do you say? And Peter, as
a representative of the group, stood up and said, you're the
Christ. You're the God, my God. You're him. You're everything.
And he said, blessed art thou, Simon Barjona. Flesh and blood
hasn't revealed that to you, but my father's done that. He's
opened those things up. The Lord told him in the 11,
after Judas left in John 16, he said, the time will come,
I'm not gonna speak to you in Proverbs no more. I'll show you
plainly of the Father. And they said, nah, you're speaking
plainly in no Proverbs. They got a little bit, didn't
they? We get a crumb from the master's table, buddy, and it'll
just swell up in your stomach and get you full on it. They
said, now we're sure that thou knowest all things, and needest
not that any man should ask thee, but by this we believe that thou
camest forth from God. And he said, oh, do you now believe?
Now you believe me? He was right there with them,
wasn't he? Almighty God sitting there at the table with them. Psalm 49, verse five. Here's the question. Wherefore should I fear in the
days of evil when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me
about? What days of evil? That's speaking
of an end day, a day of judgment, isn't it? What day of evil did
our Lord have to face? This hour. He said, for this
hour am I come. This hour, he always spoke of
this hour coming, wasn't it? What an evil day. That was the
most evil day. We think we're living in rough
times, don't we? That was the most evil day that ever occurred
on the face of this earth. And at the exact same time, that
was the most gracious and glorious day that ever took place on the
face of this earth. On this sin-cursed world we live
on. Why should Christ fear on that hour? He had no reason. There was no reason for him to
fear that day of evil. Did he sweat great drops of blood
knowing what sin he was going to be laid on him? Us? That singular
feminine noun, sin. He was going to be made sin,
who knew no sin. He strove against it to sweating
great drops of blood, didn't he? To know and understand We
know the Father has punishment for sin. He has justice for sin. We don't really enter into that.
Oh, He did. He knew exactly what separation
from a holy God that He always had communion with would be like.
But He had no reason to fear. Why? Even in that, in the dregs
of that cup that He drank, He trusted the Father fully. He
did. what in myself I can't do and
won't do fully. Psalm 1610 says, For thou will
not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one
to see corruption. Capital H, capital L, the holy
one to see corruption. He knew the Father would bring
him. He knew that that payment for sin would be accepted and
just and right, that propitiation would take place, that atonement. He knew it, and the whole time
with his face set like a flint, looking to the Father. His heel
was bruised. It says, wherefore should I fear
the days of evil when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me
about? His heel was bruised, as the scriptures declared. And
he bruised the head of that serpent, didn't he? Crushed the serpent's
head. But this is the psalmist writing this too, isn't it? This
is us too. What a question. Wherefore should
I fear in the days of evil? When my last day is come, whether
I know it's coming or not, or if I have a long time to think
about it as it approaches, why should I fear? Every day, that's
true, isn't it? Why should I fear any day there's
evil all around us? But that final day, Ecclesiastes
12 talks about that, about getting old and dying. Whenever sin's on our heels,
I'm laying there in that bed, if that's how it is, and I remember
what I am. You don't know what I've done.
I don't know all of what I've done, but I know more of what
I've done than anybody else has. I know what I am. And I know
I'm about to meet a holy God that I offended, and against
him only have I sinned. A child of God, why would you
be afraid? What cause do you have to be afraid? He's going
to answer us in verse 15. But quickly, we'll see what the
answer is not. We'll see who ought to fear that day of evil,
and oftentimes, who does? Verse 6. They that trust in their
wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches,
none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give
to God a ransom for him. They can't do it. When that day
of evil comes, sin's on their heels, there's nothing they can
do about it. Their wealth can't do nothing. Their riches can't
do nothing. And this is not a lesson in not being wealthy and rich
and working hard. The Lord said wealth's bad, so
I'm going to not work too much, go live underneath a tree somewhere.
That's not what He's talking about. People that trust in their
wealth and their riches and their righteousnesses and their good
deeds and their works and that can't take care of you and that
can't buy nobody else either. It can't redeem nothing. None
of them can by any means redeem his brother nor give to God a
ransom. Verse 9, that he should still live forever and not see
corruption. Why can't that happen? Verse
8, for the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceases
forever. The cost of that soul is precious. When that end day comes, there's
going to have to be a payment made. And mankind can't pay it
themselves. We have that law of redemption
in Leviticus 25, that kinsmen redeemer. If a brother comes
into debt and they can't do anything, and they got to sell off everything
they own, one that's kin can purchase that property and keep
it in the family. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that
kind? The Lord made provision for those
things. It's all the law, run from it.
Yeah, we can't keep it, but I told people before, if you want to
give to the Lord in strict legal terms, well, there's 11 tribes
or 12 tribes of Israel, 11 of them paid to Levi. That's 110%.
That's gracious. His law is good. It's right.
But we're giving that about redemption. Come in and purchase it, right?
That one that's able, that one that's kin, that's related. Well,
who's going to purchase our soul? Because that price is precious.
We don't have nothing that can pay for that. Blood's going to
have to be shed. My blood ain't worth nothing.
And your blood ain't worth nothing. We've all sinned. We've all come
short of the glory of God. And Christ, who was made a flesh
like us, had to be the one that redeemed us and nothing else.
Look at Romans 3. Romans 3 verse 23. Romans 3 verse 23. Paul writes
that church at Romans says, for all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. That ain't complicated. That
ain't hard to understand. You don't need a thesaurus. That's
everybody. Everybody. That's me. That's
you. Everybody. All have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. We can't redeem ourselves. We're
corrupt. Verse 24, being justified freely
to us. It's free. Justified. That means
everything that happens, right. Good. Being justified freely
by His grace through the redemption. that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. That
means the mercy seat. That's where the communion with
the holy God and the holiest of holies took place, where the
blood was shed, the propitiation, the acceptable bloody sacrifice. That's a payment. That's precious. That's what souls cost. the blood
of God Almighty Himself. And He lays it down. And He redeemed
His people. He bought them. And I'm not my
own. I'm bought with a price. I'm
His. I ain't my property. I'm His property. You who believe,
you who He's purchased, you're His. And you know it, don't you?
Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith
in His blood to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that
are past. He put it all away. He's just in doing so, through
the forbearance of the God, to declare, I say at this time,
His righteousness, that He might be just, and the justifier of
him which believeth in Jesus. Man can't do that. That's called
salvation, and salvation's of the Lord. It's in His blood. Back in our text there in verse
8, that's what the parentheses were for. It says for the, Psalm
49 verse 8, for the redemption of their soul is precious and
it ceaseth forever. That mean their soul stops and
there's just darkness forever and ever. No, no, no. It's finished. A purchased soul. The Lord's
already done it. He's a lamb slain for the foundation
of the earth. It's done. It's done. When he said, I'll
enter that covenant, it was taking money to the bank. It's done.
Verse 10, for he seeth that all wise men die, likewise the fool
and the brutish person perish and leave their wealth to others.
Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue forever,
and their dwelling places to all generations. They call their
lands after their own names. Everybody builds something in
this earth. That don't mean we don't work hard. That don't mean we don't
live respectfully and peaceably with all men that's in us to
do so. And we work as unto the Lord.
But this ain't where our stock's in. This ain't where our heritage
is. People name things after themselves,
don't they? Thackerville. Name towns or bridges or something.
The earth's the Lord's and the fullness thereof. Anything I
have ain't mine, it's his anyway, isn't it? My old friend Todd said, we are
temporary tenants subject to immediate eviction at any time.
That's us. Verse 12 says, Nevertheless,
man being in honor abideth not. He's like a beast that perish.
He repeats himself there in verse 20, but those that seem to be
in honor, those that say, Lord, Lord, those that heal sick, and
we've cast out demons in your name, and we did all these wonderful
works in your name, he says, depart from me, I know you not.
But this was all the good stuff and churchy stuff, and I didn't
miss Sunday school once. We got a chalkboard up there
with all the records on it. Not that kind of honor. Verse
13, this their way is their folly. What they're doing, looking to
themselves and look at their own righteousness, because they don't
understand God's righteousness, it's folly, it's foolishness.
You're going to perish like a dog on the side of the road. Yet
their posterity approved their sayings. There's a whole multitude
following them. I told you all a bunch. These
little young people around here is going to talk like we talk and
attend like we attend and give like we give and pray like we
pray and read like we read. They're watching. So is everybody
else's youngins. All their posterity. They're
going to grow up just like them. Like sheep they were laid in
the grave, death shall feed on them. and the upright shall have
dominion over them in the morning, and their beauty shall consume
in the grave from their dwellings." Worms are going to consume it.
It's going to go away. So that's what it's not. Why
should I fear in that final day? Do I have cause to fear when
sin's nipping at my heels and that's all I can think about
for what I am? Do I have cause? Do you have cause who Christ
has redeemed? Verse 15, but God will redeem
my soul from the power of the grave, for he shall receive me. We received into his presence,
received in that place he went to prepare for us, that place
of justification, a place of atonement, atonement with the
Father, reconciliation. He's going to receive me because
he did it. He did it. Selah. Think about that. Think
about that. Who did the work? Unfortunately,
I've seen people leave this earth that's standing on their own
works. It's a sad sight. Did I do enough? Old Mr. Rogers went to seminary and he
looked at his wife, did service to children. That's a good thing.
Kids need good influences, don't they? They need to talk to read
and talk to colors and talk music and other things and learn a
whole lot in kindergarten, how to be nice to other people. Laid
on his deathbed, looked at his wife, and he said, did I do enough?
Did I do enough? Did I do enough? No, you didn't. Wish I was there to preach Christ
to him. God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave.
That's the only hope. He's it. And if he's my redemption, what
about the resurrection? I'm the resurrection. Martha,
what's wrong with you? That's me. If he's that, what
fear do I have? The best day of a believer's
life ought to be the day we die. Not that we're going to expedite
the process, but why would I be afraid to go? I ain't afraid
to go up to Lawson Valley Road and get my easy chair this evening.
I'm not afraid of that. Why would I be afraid to go home
to the one that redeemed me? There's instruction until that
happens. Verse 16. Be not thou afraid when one's
made rich, when the glory of his house is increased. Businesses
are booming in them goat barns. The churches are getting helicopters
or whatever. I don't know. When all these
things seem to be increasing, all these titles seem to be increasing.
These people keep moving up and up and up and getting bigger
churches and bigger churches. Or they're renowned in their
righteousness and their holiness. Outwardly, it seems to be growing.
And of course, they start hen-pecking you for that. Pay no attention
to them. God's redeemed you. Don't worry
about it. Don't worry about it. It's okay. Be not thou afraid
when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased.
For when he doth, he shall carry nothing away. All that wood,
hay, and stubble, don't be impressed by it, don't be discouraged by
it. His glory shall not descend after him. Why'd I say that? His glory won't descend. We have
a glory. Christ is our glory. He will
descend to get us. The one that came down is the
one that ascended, and he's coming for us. Though while he lived,
he blessed his soul, and all men will praise thee when thou
doest well to thyself. He shall go to the generation
of his fathers, and they shall never see light. David said,
I saw their eyes bug out with fatness, and I was tore up about
it, until I went to the house of the Lord, and I saw their
end. That's the enemies of the gospel. God, if they're alive, the Lord
may save them. I get mad and my film ears turn red and all
that stuff. And then I think, I wouldn't know different. Maybe
the Lord will save them. And if not, what do they have?
No light. Eternal darkness, isn't it? Man
that is in honor and understandeth not is like the beasts that perish. All these wonderful things that
seem to be going on if they don't have an understanding. No different
than a dog dying. How can those have that have
no understanding, have any hope of hearing the dark sayings of
the Lord? How can they have any hope of hearing a parable that
he opens up of his gospel, of that redemption, of him redeeming
a people and he shall lose none? How can they? This ain't rocket
science, ain't brain surgery. We got to tell them. I'd send
somebody to go tell them folks. How'd you hear? I'd send a man
to tell them. Not what I've done, not my dark
sayings, not my parable, here's what the Lord said. Just tell
you what he said, tell you what he done. I thought of Ezekiel
37 when the Lord come to him and he said, you go out in front
of the valley of dead bones. Wasn't I missed that valley?
A whole valley full of nothing but arm bones and leg bones and
skulls and hips and everything else. Dried in the sun, bleached
white. He said, go preach to them. Okay, the hard thing, wasn't
it? Physically, put yourself in his
shoes. I'm like, I'm gonna go stand in this thing of nothing
but bones and preach to them. And he said, you go preach to
them. He said, can they live? He said, Lord, thou knowest. You tell me to do that, I'll
do it. The outcome don't matter. All people need to hear it, all
bones. If the Lord said, go preach the bones, go preach the bones.
Give it all you got. And he said, prophesy to these
bones, saying, oh, you dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. And
after those bones were straightened up and sinew was put to them
and flesh was put on them, and they said, prophesy to the wind,
and the wind come to it and breathed life into them. And there's a
bunch of people standing there. Do you know what happened? There
was death that's preaching. There was life. Human beings
was standing in front of that prophet. And the Lord said, then
he said to me, son of man, these bones are the whole house of
Israel. That's a picture of my people.
Behold, they say our bones are dry. Our hope is lost. We're
cut off from our parts. We're dead. Five minutes ago,
you was dead. And now that you have life, you
finally say you're dead. And they're scared to death,
fears in them. Therefore prophesy I saying to them, thus saith
the Lord God, behold my people, I will open your graves and cause
you to come out of your graves and bring you into the land of
Israel. That's what he just did. They're alive to hear it. And
you shall know that I'm the Lord. That's an understanding. And
I have opened your graves, all my people and brought you up
out of your graves and shall put my spirit in you and you
shall live. He's telling that to folks, it's
a lie. That's how they became alive from his word. That's how
they're comforted in their fear when they are alive. And you
shall place you in your own land, and then you shall know that
I, the Lord, have spoken and performed it, saith the Lord.
You'll know I said this, and you'll know I did it. Jeremiah said, thus saith the
Lord, those without understanding. Do you understand that? We need
saving, and he's the savior. We can't buy ourselves. It's
his blood that redeemed us. We're not our own. He owns us.
And we thank him for it. And he gave us life. And then
we said, we're dead. And he said, yeah, it's fine.
I'll keep you. Don't glory in that. You understand
these things. Don't get puffy. We don't have
a higher doctrine than other people. We don't have a higher
level of enlightenment. We're sheep. And the Lord did
it. 10 Jeremiah 9, Thus saith the
Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the
mighty man glory in his might. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches. That's us. The Lord's gave us wisdom, he's
made us Christ our strength, and he's gave us the riches of
his glory, hasn't he? But let him that glorieth glory
in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me. that I'm the
Lord which exercises loving kindness and judgment and righteousness
in the earth, for in these things I delight, saith the Lord. That's how it ends. How'd it
start? He said, set out everybody, I'm gonna sing my song to you.
He's gonna tell us about it. I hope that's a blessing too. When that day comes, whether
that's an evening, a hard trial that's in front of us, or that
final day, if he's our redeemer, What do you got to fear? Nothing. Nothing. You'd look forward to
it, wouldn't you? Let's pray together. Father,
thank you for your word. Thank you for your dark sayings
you revealed to us, giving us an understanding. a knowledge
of our kinsman redeemer, our Lord and our God, our great King. Thank you for this, Lord. Give
us comfort in that. Don't let us be fearful looking
at our bones and our flesh, but keep us looking to Him. Thank you for this salvation.
Forgive us for what we are, Lord. We with our brethren that aren't
with us and those that are in fear and are struggling and reveal
Christ to them. It's because of him we ask these
things. Amen. All right, we'll take about 10
minutes to meet back.