as was the custom of our Lord,
because it's required of us. He went to the synagogue on the
Sabbath day and he stood up and he read. And they handed him
a book, the book of Isaiah. Could you imagine if you had
66 books you had to bring with you to services? Would that be
kind of hard? You think you've got trouble
finding Jonah now? Is that thick? I gave him Isaiah and he stood
up and he read. He said, the spirit of the Lord
is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of the
sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the
book and he gave it to the minister and he said, and every eye in
that place was fastened on him. They looked at him and he began
to speak to them and he said, this day is this scripture fulfilled
in your ears. Wouldn't that be something if
this day there was somebody that was poor in spirit. If I could
find just one deaf person, if I could find somebody that wasn't
just a little bit dim lit, but completely blind and tell them some good news. What would you tell them? You
put your big, big pants on to get and preach? I don't. I wallowed over that all week.
What to tell them? What to tell them? This is a
day when a lot of people show up sometimes to hear the gospel
preach or to go to church. I don't show up here to gospel
preach, but it's one or two times a year. We got to show up and
it's what we do. Go to church. What would I tell
them? what to preach. And then I said,
I need something to go off of. I begged the Lord for a message.
And I said, well, instead of me going to the commentaries
and trying to find something, instead of me going to Ralph
Barner and try to find something, instead of me going to Henry
Mahan and trying to find something, maybe I ought to go to God's
word and try to find something. Where are we at this week? Psalm
40. You there? I want to just lay down the straight
stick. There's a whole bunch I could show in God's word of
what other people's doing wrong. And so I'm just going to lay
down the straight stick. And then if he's pleased to show error and heresy,
that's his business. But I'm just gonna tell you what
he says. This is a messianic psalm. They all are. This is
Christ speaking, right? But David wrote this. This is
David's word too. David was a king and he was God's
prophet. He wrote these, the Holy Spirit
moved, the Holy Ghost came on David and made David write this,
right? That's what we looked at Wednesday. But this is us
too. Lo and the volume of book it's
written of me. Is that you? What books did David
have? That story of Jacob we've been
looking at for a long time, isn't it? He said, that's written of
me, I'm Jacob. Is that you? That's me, isn't
it? This is a messianic song. David
is the one used to write it. He was God's prophet, though,
and he was speaking on behalf of our king. The holy God purposed
to save a people long ago. The Father purposed to save a
people before this earth was made. How he did it, the work
of doing it, is just unimaginable to you and I. It's a great mystery.
God was made flesh and dwelt among us. And he lived for his
people. And he died for his people. And
he paid the payment for his people in his own blood. Man can't enter
into that. We just can't. The love and this
purpose and the love and this work towards his elect, it's
unmeasurable. We can't count it. We can't impute
it. That means reckon. That means
count. We may have a taste of it. We'll have a little taste,
but we can't really enter into it. Look here at verse five,
Psalm 40 verse five. Many, Oh Lord, my God are thou
wonderful works, which thou hast done and thy thoughts, which
are to us word. They cannot be reckoned up. You
can't count them. Can't be reckoned up in order
unto thee. I can't tell them back to you. I don't even know
what most of them are. I'm ignorant. If I would declare
and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. People
say, count your blessings. You're going to be tied up for
a while. You're going to be busy. God, the Holy Ghost has given
us a new heart, given us eyes to behold Christ, given us ears
to hear his gospel preached. Eyes to behold our Redeemer.
All that was done for His chosen people. All that love was to
usward in His power. And it's not because of something
in us. We were the least of all nations, weren't we? He came
to save sinners. It wasn't out of our doing, but
the Holy Ghost moved on us, abounded toward us and gave us life and
gave us ears to hear. And when that happens for the
first time, you truly hear salvations of the Lord. That ain't a doctrine
no more. Salvation is Christ. It's a person. I got the same message the second
hour as I do this one. It's just going to be a different text.
I got nothing new to tell you. What are you going to preach
today? Same thing I preached last time, and Lord willing,
by His grace, same thing I'll preach next week. Somebody asked
a friend of mine, they said, what do y'all have at that church?
I said, we preach the truth of God. They said, what do you have
for the kids? Oh, we got something special
for the kids. We tell them who God is. What about the teenagers? We got something from teenagers
too, we preach Christ to them. Is there something more important?
Coloring books and plays? Dressing up, playing pretend?
Absolutely not. Him. Him, isn't it? Look here
in verse six. Sacrifice and offering thou does
not require. Mine ears hast thou opened. Burn
offering and sin offering thou hast not required. You've taught
me that. All this religion, all this, do you think of the trillions
of gallons of blood that was shed in all of those feasts and
all of those sacrifices? And they said, some of the old
writers said them, them priests was walking around knee deep
in blood. Imagine what that smelled like. The iron, the blood's slippery. You may not know that. Try to
get ahold of a goat that's covered in blood. You can't do it. That's
a mess. And it didn't do nothing. all
that play in church, all that ceremony, all that type, all
that figuring and all that stuff, didn't do nothing. God taught
me that. I had to hear that. You had to open my ear to tell
me that. My works don't matter. What will the holy God that we
offended, what will he accept? Well, you're gonna have to kill
a lamb. No, not just any lamb. That whole Old Testament points
to Christ the lamb. He's gonna accept his son. God's
going to provide himself, that means for him and himself, as
the lamb. That's what he's going to have
to have. Christ our Lord. So he had to come, didn't he?
Look in verse 7. We know this is our Lord because of Hebrews
10. It says in Hebrews 10, 9, then he said, lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. He taketh away the first that
he may establish the second. He came to do away with that
old man, Adam. made sin in the garden. That's
when we fail. We didn't get kind of wounded
a little bit. By one man, sin entered, and death by sin. That's
why we die. You know anybody that's 400 years
old right now? Nope. Cause of sin. That's proof of
it. And by one man's righteousness. Many were made righteous. Isn't
that right? We're at Romans, Romans eight. He said, he came
to take away the first to establish the second by the which will
we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ. Once. You know what I believe on sanctification.
I believe what God says about it. I was sanctified once. It's what he said, or you don't
believe it, throw it away. Verse seven, then said I, lo,
I come in the volume of the book it is written of me. He came
to honor the father. That's what the whole book's
telling us. He said, you search in scriptures because you think
you have life. They testify of me. And then those that have
eyes and ears and hearts, Paul told Timothy, or he said, now
you go look in the scriptures. You've known that from your birth.
That's where life is. That talks about him. That's
the difference, isn't it? He came to honor the Father,
to uphold His glory, to uphold the Father's holiness, and He
did. He came to save His people from their sins. Call His name
Jesus, for He shall save His people from something, from their
sins. Guess what? He did. He did it.
He came to fulfill all the law and all the prophets. He did.
He came to finish the will of the Father. He did. He came to
ratify His lordship. seal it, who he is, and be crowned
the King of Kings rightfully, be crowned the Lord of Lords
rightfully, and it's proven he did because of where he is right
now. And that got nothing to do with bunnies and painted eggs
and chocolate, pieces of chocolate, does it? Our God is on his throne,
ruling and reigning as he sees fit, as it pleases him, and he's
holy. He's holy. What he does is right. Oh, if
I get that through my thick skull. Did it happen? It was right.
What about them horrible things? It was right. God's on his throne.
All throughout the Old Testament, it declared an acceptable bloody
sacrifice. Remember what that is in the
New Testament? Ask Paul's call, right? Propitiation. That's what it is. This spotless
land. This is the Messiah. The Old Testament says he's coming.
Then we got the gospels, don't we? God man's here. He's here. Here's what he preached.
Here's what he said. Here's what he did. He's here. And then those epistles that
those apostles wrote, he's coming again. He's coming again. First, he's going to come in
the hearts of his people. Those that were put in him before time
was he's going to call on them and draw them near and give them
life. And then when that last saints called. When the last
one put in Christ before time has life put in him, this world's
over, our Lord's gonna come again, wrap it up, it's done. I wrote
that, and I thought, maybe today. Maybe somebody will hear something
I got to say today, what he's got to say. Not just old Kevin,
but God speak through me to their hearts, and this is it. Wrap
it up, it's done. We can go home. You like getting
off work? A couple of y'all work. You like
getting off work? Time to punch out, we're done.
That's what this world's gonna be. Work's done, race is finished. Get you a cup of water, sit down.
Rest, isn't it? He came, he lived, he died, he
buried, and he rose again for his sheep, and he did it willingly. willingly. There ain't nothing
more off-putting than someone that serves another with grit
in their teeth. Fine, I'll do it. I'll submit. Ugh. Don't. Go do something else. That's horrible. Our Lord did
this willingly. Look here at verse 8. He said, I delight to
do thy will, O God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. It's within my heart. The law
is written within my heart. He was the servant of the law
for his people. He was a profitable servant.
He was a good and faithful servant. And because of that, now we're
dead to the law. Because it's been fulfilled. Ain't nothing
we can add to it. Those first five books of Moses,
isn't it? We see the law. That's synonymous
with it. Go read the law. And that six
books, Joshua, Savior, Jesus. We see that whole story of salvation
and the promise of the glory. It says, now after the death
of Moses, the servant of the Lord came to pass it. The Lord
spake unto Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying,
Moses, my servant is dead. That law has been fulfilled.
Now, therefore, arise, go over the Jordan. Thou and all this
people unto the land which I do give thee, even unto the children
of Israel. He looks upon his darling son that fulfilled that
whole law, and he says, now you've done it. Now lead my people,
I put in you, across that River Jordan. Take them to the promised
land. Keep them forever. Verse five through eight, we
see that covenant of grace. That's between the father and
the son. What happened before you and I were born, there was
purpose. There was a covenant made. Look
here in verse five. Many, O Lord, my God, are thy
wonderful works, which thou hast done in thy thoughts, which are
to usward. They cannot be reckoned up in the order unto thee. If
I would declare and speak of them, there more than can be
numbered. Sacrifice and offering thou does not desire. My ears
hast thou opened. Burnt offering and sin offering
hast thou not required. Then said I, lo, I come, and
the volume of the book it's written of me. I delight to do thy will.
O my God, yea, thy law is within my heart. That's all established
before we come on the scene. That's between the father and
that's between the son. He said, I'm gonna be merciful to a people.
And the son stood up and said, send me, I'll go. It's written
of me, I'm coming. I'll be there, surety. Now what
about the preaching? I said, what am I going to preach?
Right? That's the title of the message. What to preach? Question
mark. What to preach? That's where we come on the scene.
This covenant of grace took place before this world was formed.
He was the lamb slain when? Before the foundation of the
earth. We're talking about something that's done. I'm going to tell
you something to do. I'm going to tell you something
that's done. And then he comes to his people. And he sends an
Ascension gift because he rose from that grave because there
was the resurrection. He said, I'm gonna go to my father,
but I ain't gonna leave you comfortless. I'm gonna send some servants
to you. God gave me an Ascension gift. Do you know that? I have
a pastor. I listened to him preach this morning. I love him. Love him to death. I think highly
of him. I count him double honor. God speaks to me through him.
I'm thankful for it. He gave me that Ascension gift.
You know what he preaches? Same thing, David. Ain't nothing
different. Here's the full gospel preaching
from Christ to himself. I got five things I want you
to look at real quick, and then the result of it. And that's
coming to the Lord. It's not complicated. It ain't
hard. If you're the kind that writes stuff down, now would
be a good time to do it. Easy peasy. It's simple. It's simple. Paul was afraid
of people. It's too complicated. You know
that? He had concern. He said, I fear less by any means,
just the same way as that serpent beguiled Eve through subtlety,
through little bitty differences. So your mind should be corrupted
by the simplicity that is Christ. The truth ain't complicated.
Lies are complicated because it's a web, spun, isn't it? Truth
is just a straight stick. It's who man is, nothing. It's
who God is, holy. How can them be reconciled? Christ.
That's it, isn't it? Simple. Look at verse 9 and 10.
This is Christ speaking to His Father, telling Him what He preached
on this earth, what He's going to preach to the hearts of His
children through the Holy Ghost. First and foremost, verse 9,
I have preached righteousness in the great congregation. Lo,
I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I have
not hid thy righteousness within my heart. What was in my heart
comes out my mouth. You get that? Is that what the
scripture say, isn't it? So a man is that he does. Whatever was
in that wicked old heart is what comes out that wicked old mouth,
isn't it? And if God's done a work of grace by his miraculous power,
grace comes out the mouth. Because God's been gracious to
us. Mercy comes out. And that's telling of what we
think of salvation is how we treat brethren. How we talk to
them. How we esteem them. It's how
we esteem our Lord, isn't it? I don't know, spend about 10
minutes looking in the mirror before we do that, huh? He said, I gave
thy righteousness. That's what's come out of my
mouth. What's that mean? God's holy. All of his righteous acts
are because he has a holy nature. He doesn't do what's right. What
he does is right. That's a hard pill to swallow.
Why? Because I have trials and I have
an old man that thinks he knows better than God does. Well, how
could this be happening to me? Why in the world? Surely I did
nothing wrong and he's an austere man. He just come to bop me in
the head and give me a trial. I was doing right. Somebody told me one time, Mr.
Kevin, I've prayed that the Lord would not let you get proud.
That second, it covered, I felt my ears turn red. Well, you mean
I'm proud, I'm fine. That was pride coming out, you
get what I'm saying? Like lighting a match. He's the one that does
right. He's the one that's holy. And
an unclean thing cannot be in his presence and something that
has the potential to be unclean can't be in his presence. Moral
innocence, he ain't gonna cut it. We have to be made holy.
The holy, unapproachable God. His righteousness is what Christ
preached and everything about him is holy. What's angels called
as holy angels? What about the temple and the
tabernacle? Holy temple, the holy tabernacle, the holy kingdom,
his holy scriptures, his holy throne above. God's holy. It's
holy. That's what verse 10 says about
not hiding by righteousness. But in verse nine, it says, I've
preached righteousness. God has his own holiness, his
own righteousness, but for his people, Christ was made us. He was made sin. He knew no sin,
but he was made to be the feminine noun, his bride. He became us
and we were made his righteousness. Well, now what's the details
of that? Well, however much you want to be made righteousness,
that's how much he had to be made sin. He had to be made us for us to
be made him. Well, I don't want to be made
as if I'm as Christ. Cause I keep being God's presence. Is that
simple? I can't be a wolf with just clothing
a sheep. I'd be made a whole sheep. DNA's
got to change. You get that? Natural man don't
get it. They can't enter into it. They've
been fighting it for 2,000 years. That's what John wrote about
the Gnostics. What's as if Christ came into flesh. Ain't nothing
changed. It's simple. It's simple. And this wasn't
hid, was it? The cross was made. Sin for us
who knew no sin were made. All of our righteousness is filthy
rags. We're given His righteousness. And it wasn't covered with a
napkin. It wasn't hid. It was shed abroad outwardly
and inwardly. It's the fruit of the Spirit.
If God makes you His righteousness, you're gonna follow Him, and
that's gonna come out your mouth. You know what good things I did?
I didn't do nothing good. If I did it, God did it in me.
He's the one that's righteous. If we're going to preach the
full gospel of Christ, we're going to tell about His righteousness
and how sinners are made righteous in Him, and that's going to take
a whole lot of preaching to cover, won't it? How long do you reckon
that'll take? We ain't ended yet. Secondly,
and I'll go fast, what else is preached? Verse 10, I've not
hid thy righteousness within my heart. I have declared thy
faithfulness, the faithfulness of God, the righteousness and
faith. God's faithful to His people.
He's faithful. He said, I'll never leave you
or forsake you. Have you ever left him? Like in that moment between getting
out of the shower and putting your clothes on and shaving and
getting in the car, finding your car keys or somewhere in there,
you stop thinking about God. Have you ever forsook him? You
ever denied him three times before the crow crowed? You ever done
that? He said, I'll never leave you.
I'll never forsake you. I'm always with you. He's faithful
to comfort his people. He's faithful to correct his
people. And that doesn't change. He's faithful to keep his people.
He said, for I'm the Lord, I change not. Therefore, because he doesn't
change, you sons of Jacob are not consumed. He didn't say you
sons of Israel, did he? That's what he's made us, but we know
what we are. It's his faithfulness, not mine. Are you a Jacob? Is
that your God? Or do you have to keep yourself?
God said, I'll keep you because I don't change. That's the God
of the Bible, isn't it? Jesus Christ, he's the same yesterday,
today, and forever. There's not an Old Testament
God and a New Testament God. He's the same. And his gifts
are the same. What he bestows on his people.
He says the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
If he's called you and given you ears to hear his gospel and
see his son and see Christ high and lifted up in truth, not in
a form or function or something that just happened to be trendy
at the time, that ain't going to be taken away from you. Your
mind might be, your consciousness might be. Not that. If he's giving
you saving faith, it ain't gonna go nowhere. No, we say, boy,
we got it. Put it in a safety deposit box
and we'll hit up a carnival. Lord, grow that. Increase our
faith, don't we? When the faithful God, that one
who is faithful, Not me and you. Boy, we're faithful till a fly
enters the room, don't we? We're faithful till a baby starts
crying or somebody opens a breath mint or something during services.
And we're unfaithful. He's faithful. That one who is
faithful, when he gives you his faith, the faith of Christ, it's
not returned. And this isn't a dime store saving
faith freely given to a person. This came at too dear a price.
For us to receive his faith, it came at the price of his blood.
God had to turn his back on God. I try you and God's faithful
to his people, but what a blessing. That's good, right? That's where
it hits us more important than that. Really. We ought to be
concerned about he's faithful to himself. He honored his holiness
for his namesake. Cross was faithful to the father
by being our substitute. He honored his law. He hung on
that cross and God was just. And at the same time, he was
the one that justifies. He remained holy and faithful. He was righteous and faithful
to his covenant of mercy with sinners. How could that be? I can't do that. There's times
my children do something wrong. I have to correct it. But at
the same time, I want to show mercy. Well, if I show mercy,
I ain't correcting it. And if I correct it, I can't
show mercy. I can't do that. God can. But God, what's impossible
with man is possible with him. We read there in Psalm 85, mercy
and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace, they've
kissed each other. Where'd that happen? Across a
Calvary. In that dark hour. Everything
the Lord said, my hour's not yet come, my hour's not yet come.
And he said, this is the hour. Turn the lights out on this world.
Darkness fell upon it because of what he did. Look at verse
10. I've not hid thy righteousness within my heart. I have declared
thy faithfulness. Christ preached that. That's
what he preached when he stood up to preach. His apostles preached
it. The early church, they preached it. David preached it. That's
what he said, right? His servants in this day, not heathens, not
heretics, his servants after his own heart that he sins because
there's a sin's gift, they preach this. Man ain't nothing, bow
to God, he's holy. He's faithful, he's good, he's
just. God's faithful. Not man's doing, not our strong
faith. Pick yourself up by your boot heels. No. God's faithful. The object of our faith is faithful. What to preach? He's righteous. He's righteous. The Lord's faithful.
Thirdly, look here at verse 10 again. I've not hid thy righteousness
in my heart. I've declared thy faithfulness
and thy salvation. Salvation is the workmanship
of God. It's His doing. In His people,
for His people, and for His glory. That's what He's done. Jonah
learned that, didn't he? Jonah didn't get spit out of
the whale and then say, Salvation's of the Lord. He was in the whale's
belly and he said, Salvation's of the Lord. Then the Lord made
him vomit him out on the ground. Made to submit first, didn't
He? We read that in Romans 8, for whom he did foreknow, and
whom he also did predestinate, to be conformed to the image
of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover, whom he predestinated, he also called. Whom he called,
he justified. Whom he justified, them he also
glorified. You think about those things.
That's what the Lord did in his salvation. What are we going
to say? Well, if he's for us, who can be against us? Thank you, knowing. From the
conception of the thought of salvation, that covenant that was made to
the ordering of all things. What did it take for God to save
you? Everything. There couldn't be an atom out of place throughout
eternity. An electron on its orbit around
that nucleus couldn't be out of place. That's just unfathomable.
Exactly. His thoughts ain't our thoughts.
He's more powerful than we know. Throughout all that, to the saving
of his people, through the preaching of the gospel, Send some poor,
broken, ugly, earthen vessel that ain't nothing to tell people
about a God that could save anybody. That's how he does it. That's
the means he chose. And to that culmination, he's our salvation. The world has everything backwards,
you know that? Natural man has everything backwards. You need
to do something for God, he'll save you. If you will, God wants
to save you. That's not what the scriptures
say. What did that leper say? He said, Lord, if you will, you
can make me whole. You get that? A God that's sitting
around wanting to save somebody or wanting you to make yourself
holy ain't no God. He's got a different name. I don't know what the name
lives in. He ain't living up to his name. God, if you will, you can make
me whole, because it's thy salvation. Ain't that right, Mike? That
leper came to him and said, Lord, if you will, you can make me
whole. Our old nature just plain has it backwards. And Jesus moved
with compassion, put forth his hand, and he touched him. Would
you go up and touch a leper? You get something, you catch
something, you'll be itching at the end of that, you know.
Us, not him, he went and touched him, that was one of his children.
He touched him, he said, I will be thou clean. I will, Lord,
if you will. If you will, the decision ain't
on man, that's God's prerogative, because it's his salvation, it's
thy salvation. It's not public domain, it's
his, he owns it. Salvation begins with him, with the Lord, it continues
with the Lord, and it culminates In what? A person. A person. Look at verse 10 again. Christ
preached, thy righteousness within my heart, I have declared thy
faithfulness and thy salvation, and I have not concealed thy
loving kindness. If the Holy Spirit's given you
life, you'll be moved by this. If I've lost you up till now,
pay attention to me now, okay? But if you ain't up to speed
with me, catch up now. The loving kindness that's declared
in the father's purposing salvation and glorifying his son. That's
what the father chose to do by his good pleasure. He wanted
to. Well, why? That ain't none of my business. We're the beneficiary. I can
tell you that right now. I don't need to get knee deep
in those weeds. He wanted to. Ain't that enough?
The Father purposed it. The Son, in love, in His person,
in His work, in His attitude of love, in His accomplishment,
He laid down His life for His friends. He calls us friends.
Abraham's my friend. He purchased it, didn't He? In
that loving kindness, the Holy Ghost comes to us, abounds to
us, and shows us we ain't nothing but sin. It's thy righteousness. Christ is the one that's righteous,
and judgment's done. It's settled. There ain't nothing
left for you to decide, for you to judge. No, you say amen and
bow to him. No. Because of love. Because of love. What loving kindness, isn't it?
We were by nature children of wrath, even as others. We're
no different. Anybody else but God, who's rich in mercy and
that great love wherewith he loved us. When we were dead in
sins, He's quickened us together with Christ, and He's raised
us up together, and He's made us set in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus right now. We'll know that one day. It'll
be revealed to us. That in the ages to come, He
might show the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness
towards us through Christ. Whose loving kindness? His, isn't
it? And He shows it to us. Does His
love get bigger over the years? If the Lord's worked in you,
is it just more amazing? Are we shut up more to sin? Are
we just more amazed at how magnificent his salvation is? That's amazing,
isn't it? Here in his love, not that we
love God, but that he loved us and he sent his son to be the
propitiation for our sins, that acceptable bloody sacrifice that
he didn't want real bulls and goats, that lamb slain. Beloved,
if God so loved us, We ought also love one another. If God
doesn't work in somebody like that, it's going to pop out the
outside. I can't help it. Why are you smiling all the time
for? God's on his throne, why wouldn't I? That's all right.
Lying's too long at the pizza place. Well, maybe the Lord wanted
me to eat Burger King today. I don't know what to tell you.
It'll be all right. He'll make it. I'm declaring
to you what the full gospel is, the full good news. He's righteous. He's faithful. It's his salvation. It's his loving kindness. No,
that stuff's contingent on me. He saved his people. Plum saved
him, didn't he? Verse nine, I preach righteousness
in the great congregation. Who'd he tell it to? His people,
his congregation, those he's gathered. Lo, I've not refrained
my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I've not hid thy righteousness
within my heart. I've declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation.
I've not concealed thy loving kindness and thy truth. from the great congregation.
What's all this summed up in? What's that righteousness, and
the faithfulness, and the salvation, and the love? Where can we bottle
all that up together and see it clearly in the truth? In the
truth. Thomas says, we've just been
going through this long time on John 14 night, on Wednesday
nights. Lord, which way is it? We don't know where you're going.
And he said, I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm the truth, and
I'm the lie. Where's this righteousness to
be found in Christ? Where's faithfulness to be found
in him? Not mine, I don't want my thumbprint
on it, I'll ruin it. His faithfulness. What about love and kindness?
I don't know what love is, outside of looking at him. Mankind don't
know what love is. And boy, doesn't that humble
you? I was like, as it were, we hid our face from him. And
that hit me. Friday night, me and Cameron
was reading that together. And I said, I see what the, go read
Matthew 27. Go read when they crucified our
Lord and they put a robe on him and they spit on him and they
hit him in the head. That's what I earned. And I just, I can't
hardly read it. I got to hide my face. Oh, that's
too much to bear. And he bore it for me. That's
love. Why I spit in his face. I was
a child, boy, I knew everything. Had all my doctrine in a row,
I was gonna argue with everybody but God. Then one day, he saved
me. He sent a man to preach to me,
a real tall fella. Spoke real plain, and at the end of it,
he said, go sit underneath a shade tree and eat your ham sandwich,
you'll be all right. Calm down. It was something. He's the way. He's the truth. Christ preached
Christ. To who? The great congregation.
You don't want to hear Christ preach? Go somewhere else. My
business ain't keeping people in the pews. My business is to
preach to them. If you need something more, something more theologically
sound, or higher doctrine, or whatever nonsense man can come
up with, have at it. My job is to preach Him. That's
what He preached. That's simple, isn't it? God wanted to make
a whole mess of people just like his son. And in perfect holiness,
he was faithful to save them to the othermost. And the whole
time he remained holy and just, and that's a great act of love
and every bit of it summed up in a person. That's who saved
us, not what saved us, not us getting on board with the right
doctrine because that other church was wrong. He came to sinners and
saved us. He's holy, he's faithful, he's
our salvation. He loved us first with an everlasting love, and
it's all manifest in the Godhead in a body in Christ, the truth.
That's how we're preserved. Does that need preached in this
generation? Does that need told to somebody? You reckon? Maybe? One or two people need to hear
it? Would God, we can get a bull horn and a satellite and space
station or whatever and declare it to the ends of the earth.
That's what we've been put here to do. Not to hold us up in our
homes and sit on it and say, well, now I got the gospel down
here. Nobody take it from me. Leave me alone. Gotta save it. You think God's going to run
out? In salvation, God ain't in a recession. You hear me?
Not financially either. I'll deal with that another time. What's our prayer? What's our
response to his ability? That's salvation. How does somebody
respond to that? Look at verse 11. Withhold not
thy tender mercies from me, O Lord. You're merciful. Don't withhold
it. Let thy loving kindness and thy truth continually preserve
me. Lord, make Christ come to me.
I need him daily. He's the bread of life, isn't
he? Do we need our daily bread? I think the Lord can swing a
loaf of Wonder Bread. We need Christ. That's much more important.
I don't need to eat food. He can sustain me without that.
I need Christ, and I need his love and kindness. Now, you see,
this wasn't out of stoic necessity. It was because he wanted to.
Love wants to, doesn't it? The love of God in Christ is
what eternally preserves sinners saved by grace, not us, him. That's exactly what Paul preached.
That's what Christ preached. That's what God's preachers preach
in our day. The Gentiles. Paul said, boy,
they're such a pleasure to preach to. He hated them, didn't he? God did a work in his heart.
Did he make Paul loving? He said, boy, this is a great
privilege. The Lord's let me come preach to the Gentiles, man. This is
great. And you know them Gentiles were tickled to death? It said
they rejoiced in God. They rejoiced in Paul. Boy, Paul
sure can preach. Paul sure is articulate. Paul
sure is smart. No, they said God is. That's
a factual preaching one. That's good news. That's good
news to Jews that are nothing but sin. That's good news to
Gentiles. That's good news to male, to female, to anybody,
isn't it? Not to reprobate. I said, I got something. Now,
hold on. Now, I ain't that bad. I can do a little bit. Hmm. How does the child of God respond
to this preaching, not teaching, the preaching? What happens when
this is declared in the heart? Look at verse 12. For innumerable
evils have compassed me about, mine iniquities have taken a
hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up. They are more
than the hairs of my head, therefore my heart faileth me." I'm just
overwhelmed. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver
me. O Lord, make haste to help me. Be with me is what he's saying.
Be with me. Be with me. We see this thing, this great
salvation. What we want? I want to know Him more. I want
to know Him more. I want to be taught more. I want
the Lord to speak to my heart and grow me. I want to be, Brother
Frank had a wonderful article, I'll put it in the bulletin next
week, but if you want to be fed, if you want to be comforted,
if you want to be grown in grace, there's only one place the Lord
says He's going to do all that, isn't there? When He gathers together
and meets with them, I want to be where He is. I want Him to
meet with us, don't you? All right, let's pray together. Father, be with us. Lord, have
your spirit with us as you promised you will. Give eyes to those
you haven't give eyes to yet that are yours and comfort those
that you've already gave new hearts to, Lord, and keep all
of us as you promised you will. You will save your people, Lord,
but we'll ask you. If you're going to use this congregation
to preach your gospel to the furthest of the gospel, Lord,
we ask you be with us or don't let us go. Use us, Lord, to call
out our brethren to that last one saved and we can be with
our Redeemer. Look him face to face and hug
him and thank him and kiss his feet. Forgive us for what we
are. Forgive us our doubting and our
unbelief. What a shame we are. Thank you,
Lord. Thank you for this great salvation
and your holiness and your faithfulness. And it's only in Christ's name
and his work that we ask these things. Amen.