We'll hopefully see a few things
in this psalm today. The Lord gave David a trial. He gave
him many trials throughout time. It wasn't just one. He got over
it and he's good to go. He gave him many trials. And
boy, what a gift he gave him, a faith to bow and trust and
worship a sovereign God that sent them. I want to have that faith. I
want you to have that faith. That's my desire. I like acronyms. I was in the military for a while.
I've heard this faith listed as an acronym. Faith is forsaking
all, I trust Him. The Lord has to give that. That's His gift. He gives His
people. I forsake everything and I trust Him. What if someone
told you? I want to get your attention
off of it. Let's perk us up. Let's get a hold of us, I hope.
What if someone told you the president is conspiring against
you? He is seeking to do you harm. What if someone told you that
an entire nation was doing everything they could in secret to come
and get you? What if somebody told you your
family members behind closed doors, oh, they hug you at Christmas.
As soon as they walk out of that room, they're doing everything
they can to build a case against you to get you. Would that perk our interest?
Would that have us engaged? Someone told David this, and
he wrote this song. And they sung it out loud at
church. I'd hate to be the one who told him that, but if the
Lord saved him, they'd bow and say, that was me, that's right.
I'm thankful the Lord gave you that message. I'm thankful he gave
you that song. At different times in David's life, there was a
king out to get him. And that's not man's theory like
we think up in our day. This isn't a boogeyman. This
isn't Bigfoot. Some fable. Saul was out to kill him. There
was an entire nation of people out to kill him. His own flesh
and blood, his family, at times, was out to get him. And the whole
time, through all that, the devil wanted to sift him, same as he
wanted to sift Peter, same as he wants to sift every one of
his children, and separate him from Christ. Turn him from looking
to Christ and trusting him, having faith in him, to looking to himself. You can do it. You can do it. We'll take care of you. There's
somebody here to help you. You don't need Christ. We got
a mountain, we got a cave to hide in, something. The devil's
looking to sit in. The wicked and the righteous
is what David mentions here. That's all that's mentioned in
the scriptures, you know that? The wicked and the righteous. That's
only two types. The goats and the sheep. The
saved and the unsaved. The children of God and the children
of the devil. That's it. That's one or the
other. Same thing then is the same thing
in this room today. We're one of two classes of people.
We're either his child or the child of the devil. We're either
the saved or the unsaved. We're either wicked in ourselves or
we're made righteous in Christ. It's one or the other. My friend always said, and that's
when I was, the Lord gave it to him and he drives it home
by whatever message he can. I know the feeling. The righteous
always. without exception, think themselves
to be wicked. Not kind of bad, wicked. And
the wicked, always, without exception, it doesn't matter if it's a pill
pusher, or a murderer, or a pedophile, whatever. The wicked, without
exception, think themselves, in some degree, to be righteous. They got a hope of turning this
thing around. I can just get my act together. Boy, I got a
little kindling in there. I can do something. I want to
set the table here. Someone was after David and the
people had told him, flee. David, if it's your family, if
it's probably Saul, we're going to see that in a little while
because David's a picture of Christ here. Run. King's going
to try to get you. Run. Run. We got a mountain. We want you to go hide in it.
We've got a safe house. Run to it, David. Doesn't that
sound like caring and love? Doesn't it? Here's David's response. Verse 1. In the Lord put I my
trust. Trust us, David. We've got a
place you can run to. I trust the Lord. How say ye to my soul? Flee as
a bird to your mountain. The wicked, they misused the
scriptures to David as miserable comforters. Job had some miserable
comforters, didn't he? They said, someone's chasing
you. Or they infamously said, they. Who's they? They. They are after
you. They're conspiring against you.
Run away. Save yourself. Save your body. Save your image.
David saved your reputation. We've provided a means for you.
Save it. Run. We have a safe house on a patch
of land we own up in the mountains. We've got a getaway. You can
bug out. Run to it, David. Run to our hiding place. Run to our hideout. That's what
they're telling me. And then verse 1 says, How say you, my
soul, flee as a bird to your mount? Could the wicked quote
scriptures and make it sound logical? Can someone be a Bible
expert and fall into that category of the wicked? Is that possible?
David called himself a bird to Saul one time, didn't he? He
said, I'm just a pigeon in your hand. So he could use his own
words against him. We know that. But Solomon gave
us this. And this is under the heading there in Proverbs 6.
In some Bibles it says, Practical Warnings. That's true. Even 31 Proverbs. You can read
those one a day and it will profit you worldly. But boy, that's
all the wicked get out of it. That's just some good practical
wisdom, isn't it? The unsaved person. Here's what
Solomon said. Deliver thyself as a roe, as a deer, from the
hand of the hunter and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.
Couldn't they have said David? Obviously, this is David's son
right now. He hadn't wrote it yet. Couldn't somebody use the
words of the Lord that he's preserved to say, see, doesn't that make
sense? I'm an elder and a wise person and I'm a theologian and
I've studied these things my whole life. It says it right
there. You can read. That's what you ought to be doing.
And they instruct people. We'll see the following in a
minute. But Solomon wasn't just saying run from trouble, run
from worldly danger, run from death. He was saying run from
death to life. That's what people miss. Run
from yourself like a gazelle getting chased by a lion to Christ. What makes a whole lot of sense
is I'll just spare myself some trouble. You can avoid the gospel
that way, can't you? You can look at the practical
things in this world and cling to this Christ. What a shame
that'd be. They told David, flee to their
mountain. Flee to their mountain. Go to their logic, their understanding
of the danger. That sounds so good to our carnal
ears, but what a danger that is. We're reading Acts 20. Also
of your own selves shall men arise. speaking perverse things
to draw away disciples after them, make them followers of
themselves. Paul wrote to Timothy and said,
for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.
That gospel just ain't enough. Now, I know they say a lot of
right things, but now let's go over here on the side after service.
I'm going to talk to you about some stuff. I'll train you up
a little bit better. There will come a time when they won't endure
sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to
themselves teachers having itching ears. We'll square these things
away after the fact. David said, my trust is in the
Lord. Not in man's logic, not in their
mountains, not in their thoughts, not in them quoting scripture
erroneously to people. My trust is in the Lord, in His
King that He set on His holy mountain, not your mountain.
That's just one verse. That's pretty stout. That's a
hard reply, isn't it? And he sung it to them. Turn
back to Psalm 2, just a few pages. David spoke here about what mountain
he was concerned about. That's why I said, I ain't going
to your mountain. Why are you telling me to fly like a bird and remove
all obstacles? Psalm 2, verse 6, the Lord spoke
to him and said, Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of
Zion. That's what mountain he was worried
about. That was the king David was worried about. David was
God's servant. He was his child. He was his servant. And here
in this psalm, he's a picture of Christ. He was concerned about
his heavenly father's business. He was concerned about the will
of his God, the desire to preserve ourselves, to make it easy on
us as that old man looking out for number one. That's all it
is. There was danger, though. There
was true hardship. It wasn't that they were lying
to Him. They used truth. Look back here in chapter 11,
Psalm 11, verse 2. Psalm 11, 2. For lo, for truly, they're telling
the truth. The wicked bend their bow and
make ready their arrow upon the string. that they may privily
shoot at the upright in heart, that they may shoot in the heart
of the upright in secret. They've got an arrow, the fletchings
are turned the right way, the tip's sharp, the nock's on a
string, and they draw back. They bend their bows ready to
let it fly right at the heart. They always do it in secret.
David knew this. We read in 1 Samuel 23, and David knew that Saul
secretly, he privily, in darkness, practiced mischief against him.
They told David something he already knew. Saul's out to get
you. Yeah, I know, I'm aware. I've
got a good handle on that. But this is true. The wicked
are out to get the Lord's people. They're out to get His preachers.
You talk to your co-workers, you talk to your family, you
talk to your friends, and there's a whole lot of bows that are
drawed back. There's a whole lot of sharp
arrows and they take aim at your heart, at your new heart. Christ
in you, that's what they're aiming at. But they're not mad and they're
not sharp commented at you to say that. But they're sharp and
mad and angry at the Lord that dwells in you, that abides in
you. We send out this gospel from here. We put it on together.
We preach the gospel. We put it on YouTube. We put
it on Sermon Audio, Lord willing. We put it on the radio here before
too long. And we send this gospel out. And as we go pump gas, somebody
asks us a question, we send the gospel. We let it known that
the gospel is preached to you. As that happens, The scoffers
and the hecklers will increase. They're already here. Believe
me. But as the gospel is more pronounced,
as it's proclaimed more in this area, it's going to increase.
We should not be surprised at that. You go to Thanksgiving
dinner and start correcting some folks and say, that's not what
my pastor teaches. Here's what the scriptures say. Look here,
I got a man that don't lie to me. You ought to go to hear him.
All of a sudden, people don't want to stay around for dessert,
do they? Not having dessert, that can be a drawed bow and
a sharp arrow, can't it? And always saber-rattling that
gets us. It can be little tiny things,
little quick, hard words. From Matthew chapter 10. Matthew 10, the easy path. is
to flee to man's mountain when trouble arises, to dial back
the message some, to tone down the gospel a little bit, to only
put, let's only feature messages on sermon audio that has just
an uplifting tone to it. Let's not put that heavy things.
Isn't that what Pilate gave in to? Three times they come to
Pilate, and he said, hey, this man's innocent. Well, oh, he
ain't good. I can push this off on somebody
else. Boy, get this off my plate. I don't want this on my ballot
for the courts. Send him to Herod. Herod sent
him back. And they buddied up. Turns out
they had a common enemy. But he finally gave in because
that crowd, they drew fierce. They drew fierce and said, we'll
take Barabbas. And he said, okay. He gave in,
didn't he? Many do. Many see hardship coming
and they run. And there have been many that
saw their pastor accused in the newspapers, days of old, online
nowadays, and they ran. They didn't want to stand and
fight alongside him. They didn't want to make a stand
with the gospel. They wanted somebody with less problems.
And I just kept thinking of Hosea. Well, could you imagine that?
Imagine your prophet that God gave you his wife up and left
him. There's some people that got big-minded about that. He's
got baggage. I can't sit underneath him. What's
that? Pure, unadulterated self-righteousness is what that is. They headed
for their mountains. They went off to go by themselves,
be in a cabin up on a hill somewhere. That's where they went. Look
here, Matthew 10, verse 22. And ye shall be hated of all
men for my name's sake, but he that endureth to the end shall
be saved. How do we endure? By the grace
of God working in us. How do we endure against a raindrop
falling on us? Wouldn't that kill us if God
didn't keep us alive, if he didn't save us and preserve us to the
end? But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye to
another city. For verily I say unto you, you
shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son
of Man become. The disciple is not above his
master, nor the servant above his Lord. If he was persecuted,
that killed him. What do you think it's going
to do to his servants, to his people? Now some may say that
Well, here in this text, the Lord told them, He said, well,
if they persecute you, go to another city. Flee. That's the same word,
isn't it? Well, there's a big difference between cowardice
and common sense. There's a big difference between
compromise and good common sense the Lord gives us. What He's
telling them is that it's obvious that the Lord shut a door. If
a gospel is refused, you hurry up. and you go to the next place
that He opens the door for you to preach to Him. You'll be about
your father's business. Isn't that? That's starting to
see a pattern here. You've got a job to do. Stick after it.
The Lord did. He didn't hesitate. He said,
for today is the day of salvation. I ain't going to hear you no
more. Get out of this city. Okay. Which way is the closest? Let's
go there and preach to Him. Good. Next, our Lord fulfilled
these scriptures here in Psalm 11. It says that He fulfilled
all Scriptures and that the Scriptures may be fulfilled what's written
of Him. Do you know Psalm 11 is about Him? This very thing
happened to our Lord. Look over in Luke 13. Luke 13. Oh, I'm in Luke 12, that's why. Luke
13, verse 31. The same day there came certain
of the Pharisees saying unto him, Get thee out, depart hence,
for Herod will kill thee. Run to our mountains. The king
is coming to kill you. Get out of here. And he said
unto them, Go ye and tell that fox. It's a sly devil up there. He said, you go tell that fox,
behold, I cast out devils and I do cures, I heal. Today and
tomorrow and the third day I shall be perfected. On the third day
I'll finish working. You go tell that fox for three
days I'm sitting right here and I'm healing the sick. I'm giving
sight to the blind. I'm preaching the gospel to them
and I'm casting out devils. Go tell him. Verse 33, Nevertheless,
I must walk. The Syriac version reads, I must
work. It must be about his father's business. Nevertheless, I must
work today and tomorrow and the following day, for it cannot
be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem. Oh, Jerusalem. Jerusalem, religious people.
which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto
thee. How often would I have gathered you, gathered thy children
together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and
ye would not." Isn't that what Saul did? Saul realized the Lord
was going to crown David. He's going to be the king. And
he would not. He would not. He would not. Verse 35, Behold, your house
is left unto you desolate. Oh, and it was a desolate ending
to King Saul. What a tragic end. And verily
I say unto you, ye shall not see me until the time come when
ye shall say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Now, is Saul going to say, is
this Pharisee talking to our Lord there? Or the wicked going
to say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord? How
could that be? And that final day of judgment,
every knee, that's all, will bow, every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, Lord of all things, Lord of providence,
Lord of creation, Lord of salvation, and the wicked even will say
in that day, those that come in His name, I came in my own
name, but those that come in His name, they are blessed. Back
in our text there, David's singing this song, My trust is in the
Lord, why would I flee to your mountain? The danger's real,
they sit and pretend. We are alive and our adversaries
are alive. Then he asks this rhetorical question, this hypothetical
question here in verse 3. If the foundations be destroyed,
what can the righteous do? This is a hypothetical question
to teach us something. David's teaching those that sung
it. Just like Paul wrote to instruct us there in 1 Corinthians 15,
he said, if Christ be not risen, then our preaching's in vain,
and your faith also is in vain. He is risen, isn't he? If Christ
is not risen, there's no hope. He's dead in vain, our faith's
in vain, our preaching's in vain. A Hebrew writer said, if they
shall fall away, those chosen of God, to renew them again unto
repentance, that'd just be impossible. they fall away. Our Lord said,
for false Christs and false prophets shall rise and shall show signs
and wonders to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. Those hypothetical questions,
sometimes they lead us to understanding. They teach us some things. If
Christ be not risen, He is. If the elect shall fall away,
they cannot because our Lord said, if it were possible. It
ain't possible. But David's asking us here, if
it were possible that the foundations of God were destroyed, they can't
be, or God ceases to be God, He ceases to be who He is, but
if they were, what hope would a righteous man have? What hope
would one that Christ died for have? There'd be no hope. If
Christ is not risen, we have no hope. If He doesn't preserve
His elect throughout eternity, we have no hope. If these foundations
are destroyed, we have no hope. Outside of Him, it's hopeless.
He is our hope. What foundations is David writing?
I want to touch on this briefly, but there's so many so-called
preachers and doctors and reverends and all these fancy titles. They
would probably speak if you ask them about their denomination,
about their statement of faith. Well, we got a charter and this
is our doctrine and we're Baptist and we believe this or we're
Presbyterians. We believe those and we're reformed. What's not
what to call it. And we believe that here laid
out. Denominations are man-made. Did
you know that? There ain't a denomination in
the scriptures. The only difference between Muslims
and Catholics and Southern Baptists and Presbyterian Reform and all
that stuff is the letters on their sign out front. They're
either wicked or they're righteous. They either preach Christ or
they don't. All the other names don't make a difference. The
scriptures only speak of the wicked and the righteous, saved
and lost. Some old commentators, they wrote
many years ago, and they said this is the government he's speaking
of, the foundations of the government. What if the government falls?
That's from England. Sun didn't set on the British Empire, did
it? That's important to them. That's a fatalistic idea. David
said, what if the government falls? I can't do nothing about
it. What's the righteous going to do? My hands are tied. Wrong. That ain't what he's talking
about, is it? We read that in Isaiah 9. He said, the government shall
be on his shoulder. He's the foundation of all powers
and principalities. If anything has power, he did
it. If you've got a leader, or a governor, or a sheriff, or
whatever, God put them there, didn't he? That ain't what he's
talking about. Those old commentators, they
erred because they're just men. Denominations err because it's
made up by men. Some may say that the fountains,
the foundation is the solas of the reformation. Christ alone,
scriptures alone, faith alone, grace alone, glory of God alone.
That's accurate. That's accurate with scriptures,
isn't it? But they're truths. And that's all just, the Lord
used men to produce that. That's a clever reproduction.
Some say it's the foundation of the doctrines of grace. Tulip,
total depravity, man's plumb dead. You can't preach. out of
the Scripture unless you acknowledge that. It's plain, isn't it? Unconditional
election. Christ came to die for our people.
Lamb of the Atonement. His blood was shed for those
He came to save. Irresistible grace. He comes
to them and He shall save them. Perseverance of the saints. Those
that He saves, they're plumb saved. Ain't nothing they can
do about it. Nobody else can do about it. They're His. They're
bought with a price. He ain't gonna lose a one of
them. Those are all true, ain't they? Those are all true. But
we learned to eat that elephant out of that sin of the dork 500
years ago, didn't we? Man gathered together into death.
Is that what we stand on? Oh, it's so sad. They're good,
they're true, it's solid doctrine. But good, true, solid doctrine
never redeemed anybody. A doctrine never died for somebody.
A doctrine never justified somebody. A doctrine never gave somebody
a holy nature. that can't sin, and a doctor never will preserve
a man for eternity. It's not that foundation, is
it? It's so sad. I met a man one time who told
me, he said, I know I'm saved, and I'm so thankful because I
believe in Tulip. I thought, oh, brother, my heart
hurt. If you believed in who, you know
what you believe. If you believed in Him, if you
believed in Christ, our Lord, you believed totally. Like, yeah,
that's a good order. I can explain it to other people.
Thank you for that. Boy, that piece of paper never
saved nobody. It's a man that died for his people. The soul
is true. Doctrines of grace are true.
But what do they build on? What's the foundations of those truths?
We need to get to the bottom of that, don't we? If a house's
foundation is crooked, everything built on it is crooked. Everything
is off. We just saw what man's foundations are, what man can
think, what man can come up with, what the wicked can come up with. What does God say His foundations
are? Turn over 1 Corinthians 3. 1 Corinthians 3 verse 10. Here we have a strong truth and
a strong warning. 1 Corinthians 3.10, according to
the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise master builder,
I have laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon. But
let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. Oh, isn't
that something? I want to take heed to that.
Do I want to build up wood, hay and stubble? I was walking my
driveway the other day, and I can give you a good explanation,
a pretty good understanding of what wood hay and stubble is
if I get in the right mood and I feel like talking plainly.
But what isn't wood hay and stubble? Everybody's concerned about what
is wood hay and stubble. What is not wood hay and stubble? The
foundation. What do you build on top of that
foundation? Put more foundation on it. That's what we ought to
put on there. You get that foundation a little higher, put more foundation
on it. Next thing you know, you're protected on all sides, ain't
you? Something that's uncorruptible. According to the grace of God
which is given to me as a wise master builder, I have laid the
foundation and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take
heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man
lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." That's what
David's talking about. That's Jesus Christ. What if
Jesus Christ be destroyed? What if his gospel, his work,
what if his person, his work wasn't enough? What's a righteous
gonna do? Same thing if he isn't risen. All those other things.
We have no hope. We have no hope. Isaiah said,
therefore, thus saith the Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion for
a foundation, a stone. What's his foundation? A stone,
a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. And he that
believeth shall not make haste. They'll run to him. Get on top
of that foundation, hot and in a hurry. That's who they'll flee
to. They're not going to flee to somebody else's mountain, somebody
else's ideas, somebody else's systematic theology. They're
going to flee to a person, cross their cornerstone, cross their
foundations who they'll go to. Paul wrote to us in Ephesians,
he said, "...and they are built upon the foundation of the apostles
and the prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,
in whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto
a holy temple in the Lord." They're fitly framed in Him, built with
Him, laid down with Him, made one with Him. He's the foundation
of the knowledge of God. For somebody to know the Lord.
A lot of people say they know the Lord, but they don't know
Christ. You can't know God if you don't know Christ. He is
God. God will never speak to anyone and will never hear from
anyone except through the man, Christ Jesus, our Mediator. If
He doesn't speak to anybody, it's going to be through Him.
If He doesn't want to hear of anyone, it's going to be Christ our Mediator
speaking on our behalf, coming to Him. All the fullness and
preeminence dwells on that foundation of Christ, because that pleased
the Father to do that. to put it all in Him, give Him the preeminence
for it. Reading Colossians 1, that in all things He might have
the preeminence, for it pleased the Father that in Him should
all fullness dwell. All things in the will of the
Father honor and glorify His Son. That's His agenda. That's
what He's out for. He's going to exalt His Son, honor His Son,
and just the same way as the Son honored and glorified Him.
That's His purpose. That's the foundation that God
laid. Christ is the foundation of creation. We read that in
John 1. All things were made by Him. Without Him was not anything
made that was made. What's the birds flying around? What's them raindrops and leaves
on trees? What's the foundation of that?
Christ is the foundation of it. made by Him and it was made for
Him. It says in Colossians 1.16, for
by Him are all things created that are in heaven and earth
visible and invisible. Boy, if I could get a hold of
that. Whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers. Whether they are germs or governors
or ideas of men or something over in Wuhan. He did it. All things were created by Him
and for Him. Why is that? For His glory. For
His glory. That's why I wrote that article
today. I was studying through the Psalms. There's Psalm 119
as I was going through this. Well, anytime we see a trial
coming, whether it's in us or for somebody else or whatever,
oh, do you see what happened? Oh no, what's that going to mean
for me? That means God loves His people and He's going to
chasten them. He's going to protect them. He's
going to bless them through a trial He's sending. That'll be our
response to anything. Good. Amen. I got cancer. Good. I'm sick. Good. I got a
cold. Good. Lord gave it. Praise Him. Worship Him. Rejoice
in Him. He's the foundation of creation.
He's the foundation of providence. We used to sing that song to
little children. He's got the whole world in His hands. Boy,
you better believe it. That ain't a nursery rhyme. There's
some strong meat and truth in that, if we can get a hold of
it. My brother Tom Hardy used to say, God's not in the universe,
the universe is in Him. Sit and ponder that for five
minutes. He doesn't happen to dwell up
in the black stuff called space. That's in, that's out of Him.
We can't fathom those things, can we? Paul said, for of Him,
that's the source. And through Him, that's the means,
that's the providence of every molecule that's ever moved throughout
time. of Him, through Him, and to Him. That's the end state
of all things. This foundation that the Lord
laid are all things to whom be glory forever. What's the foundation
of glory? Christ is. He's the foundation
of everything. There's not a hair on your head
that changes colors or falls out or grows that He did not
purpose. There's not a sparrow out in
the wilderness that no man's around or right across the street
that falls to the ground or lives or eats a worm without His providence,
without His purpose, except Christ is sustaining or destroying it.
He's the one that does it. He's the foundation of it all.
Some of you will respond, well, I know my Bible. The Father keeps
the sparrows and the Father knows the hairs on your head. Yeah,
and He also said, our great Lord said, I and my Father are one.
They're one. We read in Isaiah, for unto us
a child is born. There's a human that came. There's
a man that came that was born. But unto us a son is given. That
son's eternal. He always has been. He's the
great I Am. And the government shall be upon
his shoulder, and his name shall be Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty
God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Kevin, did
you say that Christ is the Almighty God? That Christ is the Father?
No, Isaiah did. God's Word did. He said it. I
just read it to you. Christ is the foundation of salvation. Y'all listen to me. I want your
attention. I know it's weary. It's been
a long week for everybody. It's been a long week for me
too. We're getting down to meat and potatoes right now, okay?
This is eternal life and death. Y'all listen to me. There was
a righteous man. Turn over to Luke chapter 2.
I'll get you turning. That'll get her fingers warmed up some.
Luke chapter 2. There was a righteous man who
the Holy Ghost came upon. There's one that Christ died
for and the Holy Ghost was with him. His name was Simeon. Look here in Luke 2, verse 26.
And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should
not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. That one promised
in the garden. When the Lord spoke to Eve and
said, you're going to have a child, a man child. My seed will come
through you. And He's going to save His people.
He's going to crush that serpent's head. He's going to bruise his
heel. And the Holy Ghost came to Simeon and said, you're going
to see Him. You ain't gonna die until you see the Lord's Christ. Would that make you nervous about
walking underneath the ladder? You saw a black cat running in front
of your car with a little X marked off on your windshield or something?
No, I'm saying no. God said I ain't gonna die until
I see His Christ. Then the Spirit led Simeon to
the temple. At the same time, Joseph and
Samaria, they was bringing our Lord up there with two turtle
doves and two pigeons, as was the custom. That was required
by the law. We see there in verse 28. Then he took him up in his arms. He picked up our Lord. An infant
held him. And blessed God and said, Lord,
now let us, thy servant, depart in peace according to thy word,
as you promised. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation. He had a little tiny baby. Noble,
seven pounds, and held it up and said, Lord, exalt me. And said, I have seen your salvation. What is it to be saved? It's
going to be seeing a person. It's going to be seeing a man. Verse 31, which thou hast prepared
before the face of all people, a lot to the Gentiles, and the
glory of thy people Israel. Simeon knew that Israel wasn't
just the Jews, did he? It wasn't a physical nation.
Right here, in my hands, he held the Savior with him. I thought about that, and boy,
I got a hold of me. I get nervous holding babies anyway, and I've
had a bunch of them. How much more for Christ to dwell in you?
It'd be something to hold that, but He dwells in His people.
Lo, I am with you always. I don't feel like He's there.
It don't matter what you feel. He said He's with your people
always. Maybe I ought to go read that and I'll remember that He's
with me always inside of His people. I'm back in our text.
I'll hurry. Psalm 11, verse 3. David asks this rhetorical question.
If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? They
have no hope, but He answers it directly. He asks His question. I don't like asking questions
I don't know the answer to. David didn't either. He asked
this question and he gives the answer, verse 4. The Lord is
in His holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven. Where's your God, David? On His
throne. Right now. It's finished. Well, Christ ain't
come yet. It don't matter. It's finished. He said so. I believe it. His eyes behold,
His eyelids try the children of men. We sing that song sometimes,
Dark the Stain, that's old man's nature. The chorus says, Praise
the Lord for full salvation. All of it. God still reigns upon
His throne. He always has been there. He
was as He walked this earth. He was there and here. And He's
there now. It says in verse 4, His eyes
behold, His eyelids try, the children of men. David, they're
coming to get you. And David says, you know what?
The Lord knows, beholds these things. Enemies are coming. My
Lord knows in great detail. His eyelids are trying them.
That's giving us some words. Our Lord doesn't need to squint.
Do you ever need to squint? Try to see something in you? Squint
your eyes a little bit, see a little bit better. It's given us the
knowledge that our Lord is watching closely. He knows these things. You and I can squint. He doesn't
have to. But it's something we can understand. He beholds all
things. Well, I wish I'd remember that.
What's going on right now in this world that the Lord's unaware
of? Has anybody pulled a wool over
his eyes? Do we walk around acting like we think that? I do north
and south, I'll get some heads bobbing with me. I do. Don't I? Well, I convicted a
sin walking around the parking lot. Oh man, I don't know what's
going to happen tomorrow. What's the weather? Is it going
to rain? Lord knows those things. And it's for my good and His
glory. It honors Christ. Go have a ham sandwich. Go sit
down. Take a nap. You'll be alright.
Go cut the grass. Work some. Be fine. The Lord
sees all these things. I had a very powerful man I worked
for for a while, for one year. He's got his own Wikipedia page.
He's up there. And he got sick. And it was about two weeks after
I was sick. And he said, Kevin, you got me sick. I said, you profess to be a Christian,
don't you? And he said, yeah. I said, who
got you sick? He said, you did. That's some daily conversation. That's horrible unbelief. God
Almighty got him sick, didn't He? He purposed those things.
He sent those things. He watched all of it, oversaw
it with His eyes trying it closely. Closely. Not a molecule moved
without Him. God sent the trial to the righteous that are found
in Christ. He sends those trials. Look here
in verse 5. The Lord trieth the righteous. If I'm living a life
where I have no worries and trials and heartaches and no chastenings
taking place, the Lord isn't trying to rush us. Strike on, O Lord. Strike on. But the wicked, and him that
loveth violence, his soul hateth." The Lord hates the wicked. Anger
with them every day. Upon the wicked his reigns. He
shall reign snares, fire and brimstone, and horrible tempests.
This shall be the portion of their cup. Vengeance is the Lord's.
Those that don't run to Him, those that don't come in His
name, on that foundation that cannot be broken, vengeance is
coming. How are we going to be sustained
through all this? What are we going to do when the boogeyman
is chasing us? How are we going to get through it? I'd follow
imaginary creatures, wouldn't I? I'd follow a prey or something
that wasn't there. If I was left to my own. Look at verse 7. For the righteous Lord loveth
righteousness. He loves righteousness. What's my righteousness? The
Lord my righteousness. He loves Christ. If He loves
him and I'm in Him, He loves me. I have nothing to fear. He's going to sustain me. His
countenance doth behold the upright. Those that He's made upright,
He can look upon. They can be in His presence. God gave His Son for me. Ain't
nothing can remove me from His love. And what a horrible child
I am to walk around worrying and fretting. But boy, how thankful
I am when I'm brought in that valley. I have to be brought
down there to look, to read, to study, to seek a word from
Him. I have to be brought down there
or I won't do it. But boy, when I see Him again,
see what He's done, see how He protects His own, how He keeps
His own, how He sends off things. Relax. Let a breath out. That's repentance, isn't it?
Turn them back to Him. Give us the mind of Christ.