Psalm 39 today. Psalm 39. Brother Henry preached from this
multiple times, reflection on 60 years. He did a reflection
on 70 years, 75 years, a reflection on 80 years, multiple times.
And I was 30 the first time I heard him. I think it was a reflection
on 80 years. And I wrote him and I said, I've only been here
30 years, but I can do a little bit of reflecting. I got three
decades to look back on. I can see what the Lord's done
in my life. And as time goes on, I look forward,
this is the first time I've preached to Psalm 39, I look forward to
preaching out of it a lot more. It'll be good. There's some things
here, David says he wants to keep his mouth with the bridle.
Watch his tongue. You don't want to sin with his
tongue. And in the last week, I studied that and I thought,
well, it don't really need to be said. Everybody knows that.
That's my area, isn't it? I've saw the negative side of
this. I've saw people pop off at the mouth and say stuff that
just absolutely was not biblical and it ought not be said. I heard
that all around me. And our little girl at the dentist's
office, there's some horrible movie depicting our Lord on TV. And she said, isn't that Jesus?
And her mama said, yeah. And she said, well, how come
no people sitting with him? I thought everybody hated him.
And her mama didn't have an answer for her. And I thought, oh, honey. I wish I had a tongue to pop
up and tear the walls out of that place and tell that girl
who Christ was. But I've seen, and I've seen the positive side
of it, of the tongue this week when the Lord uses it, not when
we use it. And I, my prayer is that, Somebody
asked me one time, do you think the Lord gave you liberty? I
said, well, I spoke freely. I don't know if the Lord gave
me liberty. I hope it was the spirit, not the flesh. But in
a positive sense this week, I've seen the Lord use some of his
children to spread the gospel to people, daughters in this
land that are defiled and don't know any better. I thank the
Lord's work. I don't think he's out of business
yet. And I want to distinguish between the two. I want him to
teach me. and when to open my mouth and
when to keep it shut. That takes wisdom. Safe bets,
keep your mouth shut. For me, I know that's true. That's
a safe bet. I wasn't gonna touch on this
and I thought, well, I need to. I need to be reminded of this
and learn some things. We all do, don't we? Here, Psalm
39, verse one. David writes here, Psalm 39 one. He said, I said, I will take
heed unto my ways. I'm going to take heed to my
ways. Uh, self-reflection. That's what self-examination
in our day, right? Look deep inside. David said,
I'm gonna take heed to my ways. I'm gonna look at myself. The
Lord's sovereign in all things. We know that. He overrules the
reckless, rebellious nature of mankind for his glory and for
his purpose and his will. We know that. But a child of
God's given a mind. We have a mind to think. We have
a mind that he puts wisdom in. The Lord teaches us. He teaches
us things. He gives us instruction to work
his will, don't we? Now listen to me. I'll tuck everybody's eyes. You
can read that at home. I'm telling you something God
laid on my heart to tell you. Men and women don't walk in the
will of God by accident. You hear that? You don't just
dumbfuzzle your way into walking in the will of God. We walk in
his will by taking heed to his word and taking heed to our ways. And when we look at ourselves,
not to everybody, most of us, boy, I'm great. I can't wait till tomorrow because
I get better looking every day. That's what the heathen says. Well, I've grown so much hogwash. If you're a child of God, you
look yourself in the mirror and it hurts. It stings. I take heed to my ways. I look
at my ways and it's a pitiful report. I can tell you that right
now. I hope someday I can serve God. I hope someday I can give
of myself to the furtherance of his gospel. I pray someday
I can. David said, I said, I will take heed unto my ways that I
sin not with my tongue. Oh, that got me. That laid heavy
on me this week. Turn over James 1. I'll try to
read it without crying. James 1. Our tongue is the most unruly
member of our body, isn't it? What horrible things it said. We need to be careful how it's
used, especially, especially when we speak of things concerning
the gospel. Somebody may listen to us. We go, the world's getting worse. I have seen more instruction
and correction that is unneeded. Those that are most equipped
to correct and instruct are the least likely to do so. And those
that are least equipped are the most likely to go running off
at the mouth. I mean, just vomiting words on people. I talk for a living, you know.
I think I take heed to that. I think I had some reflection
on that. Somebody may pay attention to
this. Look here in James 1, verse 26. James 1, 26. If any man among
you seem to be religious, they seem like, well, you know, they're
on board and they're along with their brother, their dear brother
or sister, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own
heart, that man's religion's in vain. Does that mean they're
cursing? Did they say a bad word? No,
that ain't what they're talking about. What's that? We talk high
of ourselves and we talk low of the Lord. God ought to teach us what drunkenness
is. That's a wine of Babylon. That's
getting drunk on memes of false prophets on the internet nowadays.
You get that? And smearing that wine all over the place. And
a tongue's not some vulgar language a bunch of commercial sailors,
you know what I mean? Oh, God don't want that. God's
trying to do stuff. He just wants something. He's
got a plan for your life. God knows what he wants. Hogwash!
That's blasphemy! Hush! You want to cuss because
you stumped your toe? That ain't gonna offend me. I'm still Staff Sergeant Thacker
on the inside. You ain't gonna hurt my feelings. The first person
never got on to me. You start talking, talking that
way, how good you are and how righteous you are and how you
found the gospel. Oh, buddy, that's dangerous.
Blasphemous. Either God found you or you found
a hole in the ground. One or the other, isn't it? It's
a strong language. He said, if they act like they're
going to services, I'm going to the right place and I'm sitting
underneath the right man. And I believe in the doctrines, plural,
it's always plural, witness of grace. And then they start saying
all the things they did, and all the things they're good at,
and all the things they're studying. And that preaching just happens
to be a little bit of seasoning on top of all of my legwork I've
been doing all morning, reading this one, and that one, and that
one, and this one. You can take it or leave it. Your religion's
in vain. It's vanity. Kevin, how rude
are you? Don't pick on me, you hit James.
He ain't here, you can hit me, it's all right. Turn over to
chapter three, James three. Verse two, James three, two. For in many
things we offend all. Do you know that? It ain't just
my tongue. I am an offense. That's all this
old man is. In many things. How many? All
of them. I offend in all. Doesn't it?
If any man offend not in word, The same as a perfect man, and
able to bridle his whole body. People read that and say, see,
if you can just keep your mouth, you keep saying dirty words,
you can make the whole of you holy. You can sanctify yourself. You ever heard of sarcasm? You think you can do that? Yeah,
why don't you just quit sinning? I know some people think they
quit sinning. You know, you can't pray as God
told you to pray. Lord, Father, forgive us for our sins. as we
forgive those who sin against us. He's going, what if he could
sin, he forgave my sins as I forgive others. Instantly, I'll stop
praying and I'll start praying again. Lord save me. Mercy. Mercy. Isn't it? Verse three,
behold, we put bits in the horse's mouth that they may obey us.
And we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships. which, though they be so great,
are driven with fierce winds, yet are turned about with a very
small helm. Whithersoever the governor listeth,
wherever that captain of the boat saith, he just turns that
little bitty rudder, and the whole ship moves. Even so the tongue's
a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great
a manner a little fire kindleth. The tongue is a fire, a world
of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members,
that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course
of nature, and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beast
and of bird and of serpents and of things in the sea is tamed,
and hath been tamed of mankind, but the tongue can no man tame.
It's an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith, with
a tongue," that's what he's saying, we bless God, even the Father.
Lord, thank you. Thank you for today. And wherewith
we curse men which are made after the similitude of God. Can you
believe they said that to me? You know they didn't run that
by me. They put speed bumps in that parking lot. Nobody asked
me, Bob. What's wrong with him? Them cops shouldn't be standing
there. I do it all day. The same mouth. I thank God for
all the blessings he gives me. And at the same mouth, I get
so mad at people that do 42 and a 45 mile an hour. It's terrible,
isn't it? Out of the same mouth proceeds
blessings and cursings. My brethren, these things ought
not be so. How could James know that? He lived it. He lived it. It's almost like there's two
natures in a person, isn't there? It's like there's an old man
that just hates this world and hates the... I don't like these
precepts. Which one of these precepts do you like cut up the
way? The new man says, none of them, none of them. And the old
man says, get rid of a lot of them. I'm going to run wild.
And it's just tearing on the inside. Do you ever just wake
up in the morning and you can't get out of bed because of what a sinner
you are? Or are you just so good you just float on out to the
bathroom? Believers know what I'm talking
about. Back in our text, David says he's going to take heed,
verse 1. He said, I will take heed. I'm going to give strong
attention to my ways that I sin not with my tongue. I will keep
my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me. Some
people may not know what a bit and bridle are. Some people may
be seasoned equestrians. But it's a bit and bridle. You
put that bit in the mouth and the bridle goes to the reins.
And that's what you drive a horse with. You can steer a horse like
you steer a car with a bit and bridle, can't you? David says,
I'm going to keep my mouth with a bridle. When? When's he going
to do that? While the wicked is before me.
I want to, I want to pay attention. Lord's got to do it, don't we?
Well, we have a mind. The Lord's got to control my tongue, but
I don't just lay like a jellyfish down and right. But we have to
ask him to do it. I want to take heed to my ways.
I want to take heed to my tongue, how I say things. And I want
to have a bridle on me, especially when the wicked's around, especially
around unbelievers. My pastor said this, he said
two or three hundred people. That got me. If, if, if you can
find two or three believers, if you can find two or three
believers, two or three true children of God, if you can find
two or three truly redeemed people, redeemed by the blood of the
lamb, one that the Holy Ghost has come to empower and showed
them what they are and showed them who Christ is, if you can
find two or three of them, you can let your guard down. If I
can find him, I talked to one of my brothers yesterday, and
he's coming in July, and oh, I miss him. Oh, that was the
best 17-minute conversation I had in a while. Oh, I was just so
good to catch up with him. I love him. Oh, and I can just
let my guard down. I can just say things. I don't
have to be cautious. I want to be guarded. I want
to be bridled. I can be around other believers.
I can say things as they are. I can call it as it is. I can
call myself as it is, too. A child of God said to me recently,
oh, I thought something so dumb out loud. And what they said,
I said, I said the same thing. Oh, no, maybe the Lord ain't
going to do this because of that. Ain't you thought that? You know,
there's things we think. We have minds. I think them,
too. You're just being honest. You're
just thinking out loud. I know that, that didn't offend
me one bit in the world. It wasn't offended you either. You said,
well, I get it. I get it. I know what they mean.
When I'm around true believers, we can say, we can let, I can
let my hair down, right? I can open up. I can bear my
heart. I can show my weaknesses. I can
truly share joy. I can't share joy with unbelievers
like that. Whatever it may be, I can be me. There's no ravens
around to pick apart every little word and take those little words
you said and store it away for ammunition to shoot at you later.
There's none there. You can just say it. You can
just say it. One of the Lord's purchased possessions, one of
those that are redeemed, they understand themselves. You know
what you are. I know what I am. We understand
Christ. He's the righteous one. Without
him, we ain't nothing. You get that? We understand what
that old man is. I know, I know what's in me.
I do. And we understand what the new man thinks. I know what
I want to do. Don't you? Oh, I want to worship God. I
don't want to say a bunch of fancy words and get in a building
and say, oh, we're worshiping God now because we sang two songs.
No, no, no, no. I want to bow to the almighty
God and truly from my heart, praise him. Thank you, Lord.
Amen. I want to do that. And then I
got an old man with me. You get that? I do. You get around people that
get that, easy to be around them. You don't have to bribe or nothing.
My mom was leaving one time, John Chapman preached, and she
went, she patted him on the hand, and she said, bye, John. As soon
as he got through preaching, he goes back to the door, you
know, great people on their way out. And mom says, John, that was so,
so, and just squeezed his hand and walked out. And John said,
it was so, so? He's teasing her, right? She said, you know what
I meant. They'd known each other for 40 years. Of course he knew
what she meant. She didn't have to, he'd picked
on her a little bit. You reckon Dinah got picked on
by Simeon and Levi some? Maybe a little bit, huh? It's
just family. It's fine. He knew exactly what
she meant. Man, one time I was down in another state and he
walked out and he shook the preacher's hand. He said, I thank the Lord,
save me again today. Oh, that's not theologically
sound. I know exactly what he meant.
It was fresh. It don't matter what yesterday
happened. It don't matter what I did 25 years ago in this walk
in life. Who cares? I'm alive right now.
Are you alive 25 years ago? Well, I went to conferences 45
years ago. It ain't 45 years ago, it's today.
And I heard the gospel today, and I saw Christ high and lifted
up today, and I'm happy about it. I have been saved, I am being
saved, and I shall be saved. That's the tenses of salvation
in the scriptures, and people argue that till they're blue
in the face and they're wrong. and I get it. It ain't something
to gnaw away at as a bone in seminary. It's something for
believers to live. It's so. I know what he meant. Somebody else hear that and says,
oh no. What did David say? My pastor's preaching on this
this coming Thursday. Let my heart be sound in thy statutes,
that I be not ashamed. Lord, you let me. Not like he's
some stallion in the stable just waiting to get loose. Lord, you
turn me loose, and boy, I'm gonna be sound in your statutes. No,
you have to give me desire. You have to give me the ability.
You have to sustain me when I do it. You have to do that. I know
what David meant. Do you know it? What did, Samuel went to
Eli, didn't he? And he said, I don't wanna tell
you what the Lord said. He said, you tell me everything
he said. And he said, okay. And he told him everything. He
said, he's gonna kill you boys and your lineage ain't gonna
do no good. And what did Eli say? He said, it's the Lord. Let him do what seemeth good.
Let him do what seems good. Did Samuel take that and say,
I can't let him. We need to sit down. Now we got
to hash this out. Now what you said wasn't right, Eli. He knew
what he meant. We just have words. We don't
even know what half of them mean. He knew what he meant. A redeemed
person loves Christ and he loves the kingdom of God and they love
to protect other believers. So, not chew them up and not
cast them down. They eat the fruit and they spit
out the briars. They said something wrong. Well,
that's right. They put the wrong date on the bulletin. That's
all right. We'll eat it. Still in England. I didn't put it in
Russian. David says, I'll keep my mouth
with a bridle. When? all the wicked is before me.
Now that's when we see the freedom we have, the liberty we have
around believers, but when I'm surrounded by those that don't
know the Lord, and that's a lot of the time, isn't it? Isn't
that often? Isn't that the bulk of your life,
of how God designs life to be? I got to touch on this from last
hour. Cameron and I was watching a
show, a reality show from a long time ago we used to like to watch.
She started in the beginning, and we know how it ends. We know
how it ends, and we was watching it, and I said, now we can see
like those brothers of Donna. We could see like, oh, there's
the pitfall, and I see that fire starting to brew right there,
isn't it? And I told her, I said, right when that whole, everything's
getting along good, look fine, but there's a little spark here
and there, but right when that whole thing fell apart is right
whenever they stopped living as God told them to live. That's what happened. That woman
started making a lot of money, she started belittling her husband,
and then God just ran rampant. Money will make you more whatever
you are. If you're hen-pecking and mean, you're just going to
be real mean. If you're a janitor, you'll be more generous, won't
you? But they see these things and they just let it go. And
we're surrounded by the world, ain't we? We're surrounded by
those that have no regard whatsoever to the Word of God. They have
no regard for the Lord's people. They have no regard for honoring
the Lord. They're just out for themselves. It's out for themselves. I get it. I was too, wasn't I? When I'm surrounded by those
that don't know the Lord, and that's a lot of the time, they're
likely to take my words and they'll misunderstand me. They can't
get it. They can't understand what I
say. When I'm honest and I speak plainly to a believer, they appreciate
it. They appreciate it. But when I speak plainly to unbelievers,
it's offensive. It's offensive. We had a car
accident. Oh, this horrible thing happened. My dear brother's just
going into hospice care, and he's eight up with cancer, and
he's about my age, and my heart burns for him. And somebody said,
that's terrible. And I said, no, it ain't. God
did it. And he knows it. Hey, God sent that to him. It's
right. Now, we weep. I weep for him. I want to hug
him. I had a dream the other night about going and hugging
him. But it's right. The Lord did. People say, what
kind of blasphemous thing are you saying? No, I'm the blasphemer,
right? No, it's offensive, dumb believers.
I need to get right on my tongue, but also I need to be given wisdom
and take heed because we are the ambassadors for Christ in
this community. Did you know that? There's going
to be people whose only interaction ever with the truth is going
to be through their interaction with us. through our words and
our actions. Did you know that? At a grocery
store, the only interaction somebody's gonna have is from us. And I'm
gonna need the Lord to take care of that. Who's sufficient for
these things? I'm not. He's gonna pull the
reins. I'll put the bridle on myself.
No, I'll put it on. You take the reins, Lord. Who's
sufficient for that? Gotta pass those three doors,
Brother Henry taught me when I was little. If I'm gonna say
anything, is it true? If it ain't true, you better
not say it. And we better go check, make sure it's true first, before
we go popping off the mouth. Is it necessary? Just cause it's
right, don't mean you gotta say it. Growing up, my brother always
told me, he said, Kevin, you don't have to tell everything you know.
It wouldn't take long anyway. Is it true? Is it necessary?
And is it kind? If it's just mean and cutting,
it ain't, why say it? Verse two, I was done with silence.
I held my peace even from good. And my sorrow was stirred. Why
was he silent? There's no believers to talk
to. Even from good. I didn't even say the good thing.
He had no one to talk to about what the Lord done. What great things
the Lord's done. What are those things? What are
the great things the Lord's done? Everything. Is it? We live long enough. We'll look back. What's the great
things the Lord done? Everything. Everything. If he's with us and he gives
us eyes to see, we'll sit back and say, boy, that's right. That's
right. And then we're just dumb, and
the trial comes, and I go, oh! It's right. It's right, isn't
it? Sometimes it's good to be dumb
with silence. Have you ever learned anything while you were talking? No. We learn by listening. That's in schoolhouse, right?
How does faith come? By you yapping? No, faith comes
by hearing, hearing, hearing. Before James began to speak on
that tongue, he made this point that before he explains it, he
said, wherefore my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear
and slow to speak. And I'm going to tell you why
you got a tongue. And he knew, how did he know? He said, Lord,
them people, them Samaritans didn't have want to treat and
treat you. Can we call fire down on them?
I relate to those brothers of Dinah. I relate to them sons
of thunder. I get it. They boldly went into
that town, Bob. They kicked doors in. That's
why my right leg hurt so bad today. I kicked a lot of doors
in. I get it. I relate to that. But they didn't
know what spirit was in them. That's what the Lord told them,
isn't it? And so James says, let me tell you about the tongue.
I know, I know. People seem so quick to express
their opinion about anything. Anything. You wanna know how
to set chicken eggs? You never put them in the refrigerator,
you always put them in the refrigerator, you wait a week and you wait
a month and you don't wait a day. Whatever you think, it's on the
internet. Some knuckleheads popped off
at the mouth and told them, nonsense. And so me and Kimberly waited
a week, we didn't wait a week, we put them in the refrigerator,
we didn't put them in the refrigerator, and every one of them hatched. Man don't know
nothing. Mankind, people are so quick
to express their opinions about anything, and especially about
the Lord, His Word, and His salvation. Especially. I won't have you
turn for time's sake. Solomon wrote this. Who was he?
Wisest man born Adam, wasn't he? Maybe we ought to hear him.
Maybe we ought to. He said, keep thy foot when thou
goest in the house of God, and be more ready to hear than to
give the sacrifice of fools. for they consider not that they
do evil." Well, I didn't say nothing wrong. I just said churchy
stuff. Hush. Learn something. Sit down. Be
quiet. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty
to utter anything before God, for he's in heaven, and you're
upon the earth. Therefore, let your words be
few. To be clear, Henry said that, Ralph said that, Spurgeon
said it, Calvin said it, I said it, and whoever comes out, they'll
say, if you got questions, give it six weeks, six months, six
years. I added that part. Give it time. The Lord will answer
your questions. People say, well, I want to know
this right now. Well, how about you, the Lord said, I'm going to give
you a passage of my own heart. Go sit underneath one man and see what the Lord's
teaching you through that man. You all know that because you
hear, but there's some people that tune into us that need to hear
that. Well, I'm not confident. No kidding. No wonder. Anything we ever say about the
lowliness and wickedness of ourselves and of a mankind, it's never
low enough. And anything we ever say honoring God and that glorifies
our Lord, it's never high enough. Just let your speech be yes and
no. That's what he told us. When the Lord makes a preacher,
They got to speak a lot. I try to dwell a lot on how to
word things, not just to explain it the right way and not just
to, I don't want to bring dishonor on the gospel, but I don't want
to wing it. You understand? Ever. A lot of
other things in my life, I wing it. And old Hoff said at half
speed, I'm better than most. Not this. Not this. It's too precious to. I'll be fatalistic at fishing.
If the Lord wants me to catch a fish, I'll catch a fish. I
just like being on a boat, right? Not preaching. Not preaching. Every believer ought to ask the
Lord to keep our mouths from sinning. That old saying says,
it's better to be silent when people think you're an idiot
than to open your mouth and prove them right. David didn't say anything. He couldn't even speak of the
goodness of the Lord. End of verse two says, and my sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me, verse
three, while I was musing the fire burned, then spake out with
my tongue. So I just had it burning inside
me. That's a good thing to hold our tongues until we're sure
the Lord has given us something to say. How will I know? How will I know the Lord's given me something
to say? My heart burns within me. I heard somebody say, man,
I hear the preacher of the gospel, my heart just burns in me. Somebody
said, no, that don't happen. What? Have you ever read the
scriptures? See, we need to think about what we say before we pop
off the mouth, because you could be wrong. What'd the Lord say? Those two, they... Roe walked
on the road to Emmaus, didn't he? And the Lord spoke to him.
And he said, what's wrong with you? Oh, not Christ have suffered,
huh? And it came to pass, he sat with
me, took bread and he blessed it and he break it and he gave
it to him. He broke bread with him. He ate with sinners, didn't
he? And their eyes were open and they knew him and advanced
out of sight. And they said one to another, did not our hearts
burn within us while he talked to us, by the way, while he opened
up the scriptures to us. Then our hearts burn within us
as a fire. That's a good thing for preachers
to speak about. That's what the Lord said, isn't it? Jeremiah
20, Jeremiah said, I'm not going to make mention of him no more.
I ain't going to speak your name no more. I'm not going to say
your words no more. You tricked me. I'm here all alone. They're
just going to kill me, Lord. How could a prophet say such
things? He's a sinner saved by grace. That's it. And he said, but his word was
in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones. And I was
weary with forbearing. I could not stay. I couldn't
stay silent. He said, all that stuff on the inside saying, I
ain't preaching no more. I quit. I'm going fishing. And then that
word burned within them and he couldn't contain it. It spewed
out, didn't it? Verse three says, my heart was
hot within me while I was musing the fire burned, then spake I
with my tongue. Who'd he speak to? He still wasn't
talking to people, was he? Look at verse four. Lord, Lord. Three divisions and I'll go as
quick as I can. Who's speaking? David is, isn't he? This is our
king speaking, isn't it? And this is us speaking. If we're
one with him, we can say it with him, can't we? This is us. To
whom is he speaking? The Lord. The Lord. It burned
in him and he cried out to God. What's the subject? What this
earthly life is. how he feels about this early
life, and then at the end, he prays. He prays. He sees all
this stuff around him, and it just builds up inside of him,
and he says everything. He says the truth, and then he
prays. Verse four, Lord, make me to know mine end, and the
measure of my days, what it is, that I may know how frail I am.
It's good that I know how frail I am. I started running, I told
y'all that, right? And last week I ran, I went two and a half
miles one day, And I thought, whoa, I still got it, like I'm
25. And I went home and I went to
take the trash out and I bent over to get that thing and something
popped in my knee and I'm gonna have to go to the doctor tomorrow.
I'm in bad shape. This body of sin and death is
just frail, that's all it is. I need to know that physically.
I need to get a little hold on the measure of my days, why?
Why do we need to know that? Because it's better to go in
the house of mourning than the house of feasting. for that's
the end of all men, and the living will lay it to his heart. I have
an end. This body's gonna be done one day. This earth's vanity. Vanity, it don't matter. If I'm
hurting, that don't matter either. If I'm feeling good, it don't
matter. I need the Lord's what I need. In light of an eternal
God, we looked at this the other day. What's 120 years? Bob Jacob
made all them mistakes. He's in his 90s. Ain't nothing.
In light of an eternal God, what's 90 years? Not even a hiccup,
is it? This life's a vapor. It's a hand
breath we're about to see, right? This life ain't nothing. Now
let me show you the other side of that coin. We don't understand
the destruction of sin. In a short 70, 80, 90 years,
which is nothing, sin destroys this body. We come forth, skin's
fresh, organs brand new, everything's great, and sin destroys it in
a hand breath. And we think we can wrangle that
down. We can put a bridle on sin and rope it in. Ha! We don't
know how to discuss it. Does that amaze you? That amazed
me. I like to drive another day.
I saw my hand. I was like, that ain't my hand. Put some lotion
on that thing. Why? Sin. Sin. Why we age? Sin. Why is all this
hair getting gray? Sin. Why does my body start dying? Sin. See him? Verse five. Behold, thou hast made my days
as a hand breath, and mine age as nothing before me. Verily,
every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. I like
that word best. I did. We're not told that man
at his worst state is vanity. Man on drugs is vanity. Men and women down at the brothel
is vanity. No, at our very best state. Absolute best of us is nothing
but vanity. Everything in our old nature
fights that. If you have two natures, that old one fights
that. It does. Surely there's something good
in people. There has to be some wisdom in
people. We've been around for a nanosecond, right? You want to see somebody completely
covered in pride? Tell them you hope their pride goes away. I'm
not proud. It's a trap, ain't it? I'm good. I make wise decisions. Oh, no,
I don't either. That goes quick, doesn't it?
Our best state is vanity. Paul said, in his flesh dwells
no good thing, nothing. Isaiah said we're all as an unclean
thing. All of our righteousness, all those things that we do good
is a bunch of used up sanitary napkins. Filthy rags. It's gross. You get that? That was pretty
vulgar in that day. Selah. Selah. Every man in his best days altogether
vanity. Selah. Pause. Stop. Let that soak in. Let that soak in. Verse six. Surely every man walketh in a
vain show. Surely they are disquieted in vain. He heapeth up riches
and know not who shall gather them. Does that say every man
walketh in a vain show? Is that what the scripture says?
Every man. And that ain't just males. Okay.
Every, every human. What about them young ones? Yup.
What about the old ones? Yup. Female. Yup. Jew. Yup. Gentile. Uh-huh. Bond free. It don't make a difference. Every
man walketh in a vain show. We strut through this life like
there's a parade, and we're the king or queen of it, in costume.
Clowns is what we are. Clowns. And it's all a vain show. It's a cartoon. It's a joke.
And boy, we think it's serious. David declares what this world
is. He said, my life's a hand breath. My age is nothing. Every
man is best. The best we can do is vanity.
The whole world's nothing. It's a parade. It's a put on.
It's a show of vain things. We aren't taking anything out
of this world. We're leaving everything behind. It says they
heap up riches and know not who shall gather them. You can make
a will and testament and it may be seen out. It may not. You
ever heard of a lawyer? You take that thing to court
and litigation and you can milk that wheel down to nothing. Can't
you? That's what I call the last hope in Testament. Last wish
in Testament. Now he tells us about what he
feels like, verse seven. And now Lord, what wait I for? That's the state of this world.
That's a state of all mankind outside of Christ. What am I
waiting for? My hope, my earnest expected end. My expectation
is in thee. Do I wait to live in vanity? Do I wait to gather up riches
that I can't do anything with? Do I wait to live a life of anxiety? Do I wait to live a life of fret
and worry? Do I wait to live a life that
ain't really lived at all? Watch through the lens of somebody
else. David's talking about this life, but now he says in verse
seven, and now, now, Lord, now, He talked about the world, now
he's speaking to the Lord, isn't he? Now Lord, now I'm a man,
now I'm turning from this life and my eyes are set on you. We may have been vain in the
past. We may have made a mess of everything. I mean, hogwash,
a hot mess, everything in our past. But we ain't living back
in the past, are we? We're living right now. And so
right now, now, now I look to you. Now, I may have been unmotivated
in the past. I may have been ignorant in the
past, but I ain't in the past. I'm right now. And now you're
my hope. Now, Lord, I see you. Now, I'm
looking to you. Now, you are my expected end. What am I waiting for? There's
nothing here for me. There's nothing in this present
world for me to cling to. For me to live is Christ, but
to die is gain, isn't it? That's what Paul said. And he
said, nevertheless, for me to abide in the flesh, for me to
hear, that's needful for you, more needful for you. I'll get
some benefit out of it. For me to die is gain. I want
to be used as a lord. I want to be a servant and I
want to serve. If he's made me a servant, I want to serve. But
my hope's him, not my service. Other than that, there's nothing
here but vanity, is there? You know, I was thinking, I ate a
whole lot of organic, wild caught, deep red salmon. A lot of it. I ate till my heart's content
when we lived up in Alaska. And whenever we moved, you know,
I didn't eat it for five years. Now I had it once since then.
You can eat lobster and you can eat more lobster and you can
eat more lobster. And at the end, it tastes like rubber with
butter on it. It gets old, doesn't it? What's Solomon say? He had
everything, buddy. You talk about throwing some
parties. Nobody got on him by wasting the Lord's money. Woo. And he said, it's all vanity.
It's nothing. Not a lick of it. My hope is
in Christ. Do you know that? My hope's not
in stuff, my hope's not in things, my hope's not in a religious
creed, my hope's not in a denomination, my hope's not in a man that as
soon as they go, all them people go with them, as soon as the
Lord takes them out of this world. No, I'm thankful for those men that
preach Christ, but my hope's Christ. I pray for them, but
I need Him. He's my expected end, isn't it?
My hope's Him. If I'm going to live, If I'm
gonna be in this world, I pray the Lord will make me stop living
for myself, and for my life, and for me to live for Him. Live
for Him, for His gospel, and His people. I pray He'd do that. Turn me over lock, stock, and
barrel to His servitude. And anyway, to die is gain. While
I'm here, That's like being at work. I don't know if anybody's
experienced that. If I'm going to be at work, if I'm going to
be away from home, we're going to get some work done. Now, when
I ain't at work, I'm going to put my feet up and you ain't
going to get me off that couch. But now if we're going to work, we're
going to work. I'm here. I pray the Lord make me be useful. To die is gain. Look at verse
eight. Deliver me from all my transgressions. What does that
leave us? Well, I can't serve the way I
want to. I pray the Lord to make me serve. Lord, save me. Did
that change? Well, no, we rose above that
doctrine. Dave was young, he was old. He said, Lord, you made
a covenant with me. That's what my hope is. It's
your word, it's your salvation. And you need to save me. I thought
he was saved. Of course he is saved. Save me,
save me, save Lord. For me to live in this world,
you must deliver me from my sin. And for me to die and be conformed
to Christ in totality, you must deliver me from me. That's what's
got to happen, isn't it? With those things in mind, what
else matters? Seriously. Almighty God was pleased
to send his spirit to this little tiny building in Hamoul, California,
and he saved sinners. He receives them, and he eats
with them. He'd pick up your sandwich after
you take a bite from it. There's no condemnation against
the holy God we've offended. Sin's gone. We have a life in
him. He is our hope, and he's gonna
come get us. If I prepare a place for you, I'm gonna come get you.
I believe him. What's ought to be on my tongue?
Do you know Aztecs are making it to the top two? Who cares? I don't care. He saved me. That's what ought to be on my
tongue. Let's save him.