Here I raise mine, Ebenezer. We got a message from that one
time. Maybe you don't know that story,
somebody, but let me tell it to you. The Philistines were
gathered against the children of Israel. And the children of
Israel heard it, and they were afraid. They were afraid, the
Philistines. Children of Israel said to Samuel,
cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us, that he will
save us out of the hand of the Philistine, our enemy. So Samuel
took a sucking lamb and offered it unto the Lord. And Samuel
cried unto the Lord, and the Lord heard him. And as Samuel
was offering the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to
battle, and the Lord slew them all. They overcame them by the
blood of the Lamb. We're going to read that in Revelation
12 a little bit. So Samuel took a stone and Mitspah
called the name of it Ebenezer. Hitherto hath the Lord helped
us. What do you reckon that stone
represents? Christ the Solid Rock. Psalm 56. Psalm 56. Read verse 4 with me, Psalm 56. In God will I praise His Word. In God I have put my trust. Look at verse 10 and 11. In God
will I praise His Word. In the Lord will I praise His
Word. In God have I put my trust. I will not be afraid. He's reassuring
himself. All our help, all our hope is
in God, is in Christ. It really is. So all our trust
should be in Him and Him alone, shouldn't it? He's the only one.
Only one. Trust in Him, ye saints, forever. He is faithful, changing never. Neither force nor guile can sever. those who he loves from him. Romans 8. Who shall separate
us from the love of God? The Synagogue. The title and
the subject of this message is our fears and our tears. Or a
song, song, song, song for the fearful and the tearful. That's
all I've said. Song, remember? I've reminded
us all that whatever you're feeling, sing. Sad, sing. Happy, sing. This is a song. All of these are songs, meant
to be sung at all times. This is for those who are fearful
and tearful. If we have no fears and tears
at the moment, be thankful. But you will. You will. Listen
to this. Listen very carefully to Ecclesiastes
7. This is, when I announce this
scripture, you're welcome to turn to it. But you need to remember
this. Ecclesiastes 7, 14. In the day
of prosperity, be joyful. But in the day of adversity,
consider. God has set one against the other
to the end that man shall find nothing after him. You're not
going to find any lasting peace or joy or contentment or security
or anything or freedom from fear in this world, in these things. You're not going to do it. Because
there's prosperity and there's adversity. To the children of
God, to the disciple of Christ, our Lord said, in this world
ye shall have tribulation. But then what did he say? Be
of good cheer. He kept telling his disciple
over and over again, fear not. A dear brother who came to the
meeting has struggled for many years now with depression. with
lack of assurance and comfort. He's up and down. We talked about
Psalm 107, you know, those that go down to the sea in ships,
they do business in deep waters. I said, they're up one day and
down the next, up and down, up and down. I said, brother, they
all reach their desired haven. So be of good cheer. Fear not. Fear not. Christ said,
fear not. Trust the Lord. And, you know,
if we trusted him more, we would have less fears and tears, wouldn't
we? I'm sure we would. The title is to the chief musician,
you see, that Jona... Jonaeth... Somebody pronounce
that for me. Jonaeth Lomrochem. But that means,
and it's... It has a profound meaning. It
means the silence of a dove that's far off. A dove that's far from
its home and its mate and it's afraid and it's silent. It's
touching it. Mictum is a golden psalm. Mictum. four or five, gold and
psalm, because listen to what David says. He says in Psalm
19, he said, The judgments of our Lord, the word of the Lord,
are more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold. Proverbs, you know these, that
I give lasting riches better than silver or gold. He said
you need to seek me. more than gold. So this is a
golden psalm. Now, I began with telling us
we all need to trust the Lord more, and how we get comfort
is from God's Word. David said, I'll praise His Word. In God have I put my trust. In
God will I praise His Word, in the Lord will I praise His Word.
Where did David get his comfort? You know, the Lord spoke to David
a couple of times, but most of the time, He spoke through a
preacher and through His Word. And David esteemed it. I don't
know what he had, just the books of Moses, maybe Esther, I don't
know. No, we wouldn't have had Esther.
Anyway, that's all he had, but that gave him great comfort.
That's how the Lord speaks to us. He said, and he wrote here
in Psalm 119, Remember the word unto thy servant. It caused me
to remember. Bring it to remembrance. We forget
so easily. Bring your word to remembrance
because this is that that has caused me to hope. Remember your
word unto your servant, upon which thou hast caused me to
hope. This is my comfort in my affliction. Thy word hath quickened
me, and your word is what comforts me and allays all my fears and
dries my tears. So, oh, we need to avail ourselves
of God's word more, don't we? All of us, including me. All
right, let's look at some of our fears here in this psalm.
Look at verses 1 through 3 again. Be merciful unto me, O God. Man
would swallow me up. And you could easily put the
evil man, the evil one, that man of perdition, that man of
sin. He fights daily, daily oppresses
me. My enemies, and there are many,
would daily swallow me up. There are many. They fight against
me, O thou Most High. You know, David speaks of his
enemies over 100 times in the Psalms. More than any other book. David speaks of his enemies.
He said, there are many and they're lively. They're alive. They're strong. He said, my enemies
are strong. Children of God, followers of
Christ, are like sheep. And sheep have many enemies. Sheep have many predators, don't
they? Sheep are easy prey for predators that seek to kill and
devour and destroy us. Our Lord said this, The Lamb. The Lamb said, Behold, I send
you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves, didn't He? Beware
of men. That's what He said. He said,
You shall be hated of all men for My namesake, but fear them
not. Don't fear them, he said. Fear
not him that killeth the body, and after that, there's no more
you can do. Don't you love that? Kelly finished
quoting that for me. There's no more they can do.
If they kill you, they've done you a great favor. You understand
that? We need to understand that. Where
is that where they have one's death is better than birth? Ecclesiastes
7. You remember that? That's the
same. chapter I just read to you, death is better than birth
to the child of God. It's the end of all these fears
and tears. And he's intimate. It's the end
of them. Well, he says, our intimates, my intimate, that man would swallow
me up. Satan, Peter said it, didn't
he? Like a roaring lion, seeketh
whom he may devour. We're no match for him. The evil
one, the father of lies. And this is who he's speaking
of. Look down at verse 5 and 6. Every
day they rest my words. All their thoughts are against
me for evil. They gather themselves together. They hide themselves.
They mark my steps. They wait for my soul. You know,
this is absolutely speaking of Christ. Right? He took upon him the seed of
Abraham, made in the likeness of sinful flesh without sin.
He was touched in all points, tempted in all points, like as
we are, infinitely more so. The first one he faced was our
adversary before us as our covenant head, as our captain of our salvation,
he went out first to face him, didn't he? And right then and
there, he said, he showed Satan right then and there that you
have to go through me to get to them. They came to get them
in the garden. He said, you can't touch them.
You can have me. But he faced our adversary first
and he defeated him. He defeated him on the cross.
But he would swallow us up. But listen again, look at verse
10 and 11. In God will I praise his word, in the Lord will I
praise his word. In God have I put my trust. I
will not be afraid what man can do unto them. You know why? Because man can't do anything
unto you unless God lets him. Unless God directs him. You know
that? There's a psalm, I didn't write
it down, but I'm pretty sure it's Psalm 17. It says this. Yes, it is. It says, like as a lion greedy
of his prey, a young lion lurking in secret places. Arise, O Lord. Disappoint him. Cast him down.
Deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword. He's doing God's bidding. He
can't do anything. Deliver me from men which are
thy hand. You remember Job? Don't we love
the story of Job? I was talking to a fellow on the
railroad one time about these things, and I brought up Job.
He didn't want to talk about Job. He didn't want to talk about
it. Well, I do. It gives me great
comfort. But Job, you know, Satan had
to appear before God for God to allow him to do what he was
going to do. And God mocked him. Have you considered my servant
Job? There's nothing like him in the earth. Just man. Perfect
man. Upright. Purest God in his choosing. Have
you considered Job? Oh, I sure have. I'm trying to
get at him. You've got a hedge about him.
He said, you've got a hedge about him. You drop that hedge, he'll
curse you. OK. We'll see. And he didn't. Because he had
God-given faith, didn't he? Yes, he did. Without him, we
can do nothing. But with him, all things. All things. Peter said, resist the devil
in the faith, in the name of Christ. So our adversary would
swallow us up. Revelation 12. Turn there. Revelation 12. It's been a long
time since we've looked at this, but this is a marvelous chapter
about the woman, which is the church, which Christ came in
the midst of, born in the midst of the church. And the great
dragon was after her and him, the child, but he ascended up. But the church is still in the
wilderness. Look down at verse 9. The great
dragon was cast out. Verse 7, there was war in heaven.
What was that? Satan said, Isaiah 14, I will
exalt myself. I will ascend my throne to the
stars. God said, you will not. Christ
said, you will not. And Christ said, I beheld Satan
fall as lightning. Didn't it? How did he do that?
Christ is the one that took hold of him and cast him out. Nine, the great dragon was cast
out. Remember, our Lord going to the cross said, now is the
God of this world what? Say it. Cast out. Didn't he? Devil, Satan, to deceive the
whole world. Cast out where? Into the earth. and his angels, demons, cast
out with him. But now, God said, verse 10, I heard a loud voice
saying to him, now has come salvation and strength, the kingdom of
our God and the power of his Christ. How's that? In the face
of the adversary. All of Hebrew, Hebrews 11 especially,
is absolute proof that God is for us. God is with us. Because
the God of this world is against us. And we're no match for Him. But He's no match for our capitalism. Read on. It says, He is the accuser
of the brethren's cast down, which accused them before our
God day and night, and they overcame Him by the blood of the Lamb,
by the word of their testimony. They loved not their lives unto
death. I love that. Don't you love that?
I go back to the text. So David said, Now the enemies
are strong, they would swallow me up. O thou Most High, he's
calling on Him. In verse 3 he says, What time
I'm afraid, I'll trust in thee. Before we get to that, trust
in Him. It said, it said twice, He fights
daily against me. And it oppresses me. My enemies
daily swallow me up. Daily. Do you find yourself having
a daily struggle going on within? Do you? It rarely lets up, does
it? Right? Why is that? What is this? What's this struggle? All believers
have this. If you don't have it, you're
not a believer. I was going to turn to Genesis 25 and the story
of Rebekah, Isaac's wife, who has twins in her. And she said,
what's wrong with you? You know, God gave her this.
She was barren and created life in her. And all of a sudden she's
got this war going on in her. And she said, what's wrong with
me? Why am I thus? Why is this going on? What's
happening to me? And the Lord said, there's two manner of men
in you. Two different people in you.
And they're butt heads. And they're going to butt heads
all their lives. Their enemies are going to be nothing. And
that's the old man and the new man. We all feel it, don't we?
And this struggle, this battle goes on daily. There's rarely
a day that that old man doesn't raise his ugly head. That's the
enemy. The enemy within. We've got enemies
without. And we've got an enemy within, don't we? And we struggle
with him daily. If there's no struggle, then
you're not a child of God. There was a time when you were
an enemy of God. You see, Why is the world and
people called our enemies? Because man hates God. That's what Scripture said. The
carnal mind is enmity against God. Romans 8 said it. Right?
Man hates God. That's Romans 1. It's clear.
And such were some of you. You who were children of wrath
even as others. Enemies and aliens in your own
mind by your wicked work. But God. But now, reconciled
by the blood of Christ. Reconciling. You're not enemies
anymore, you're friends. Reconcile. And you were children
of wrath walking the course of this world, the prince of the
power of the air, even as others, but God took you, Christ took
captivity captive. A stronger than he took his goods
from him. And he doesn't like that. Our adversary doesn't like that. He tried to get the first man
and woman in the garden. He tried. He failed. And then he thought, I'll end
this. I'll take the son of God. I'll
have him killed. He did what God purposed to be
done. And in killing him, he crushed
his own head. What time I'm afraid? Now trust
in the Lord. If you're never afraid, you're
either a liar, you're asleep, or you're of the world. Because
the world has carnal security. This world, the people in it
are so full of carnal security, especially in the United States
of America. There's never been a more proud, boastful, arrogant,
Carnally secure, rich, increased with goods. Don't need God, don't
need a savior. We're our own savior. We got
the strongest military in the world. We got all this money
and goods and all that. Let the rest of the world go
to hell. That's pretty much what America's like. And it's only a couple hundred
years old. That's what Rome said. That's what the Greeks said. You know what? That's what Alexander
the Great said. That's what they all said when
they came down. They came crashing down. No,
we don't trust in the United States of America. We trust in
the Lord. He's going to bring this proud
race of people down. So if someone says they're not
afraid, no fear. Isn't that the slogan? Isn't
that the slogan of today? No fear. No fear. You know, we all lie in our beds.
Humanly speaking, we lie in our beds secure and comfortable because
someone is out there awake, patrolling the streets, dealing with the
bad guys. Right? We lie in our beds while somebody
is lying in a foxhole. That's a fact. But the absolute
fact of the matter is, it's the Lord that keeps us. Completely. He that keepeth Israel never
slumbers. But we have real fears. What
time I'm afraid. David was afraid. He's running
from Saul. He was very afraid of Saul. And
then he got in Gath among his enemies and he was afraid of
the king of Gath. We put ourselves in these things,
predicaments, and we get afraid, and it's partly our own fault.
But he was afraid, David, who slew the Goliath. David was afraid. And they mocked him. Is this David,
who slew his 10,000? They said, I will not fear. I will not fear. And he remembered,
and as we said, he's reminding himself, verse 4, what time I'm
afraid, I'll trust in thee. In God I'll praise his glory.
In God I put my trust. I will not fear what flesh can
do unto me. He said it again. I will not
be afraid what man can do unto me. How many times does he say
that? God is my life, my salvation. I will not be afraid. Psalm 91. Thou shalt not be afraid. That's
a command. That's what that is. Don't be
afraid. Our Lord said, be not afraid. of them. Fear me, but
not them. Psalm 53. Just turn back a page. Do you remember what all happened? Look at verse. Do you remember
what all happened five years ago? Most people forget it. When
this world, the whole world was shaking in their boots. Ain't now, are they? Who sent it? Who took it away? The fool, verse 1, has said in
his heart, there is no God. Corrupt are they that have done
abominable iniquities. None that doeth good. God looked
down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any
that did understand. They just seek God. Every one
of them has gone back there. Altogether they have become filthy,
stinking, rotten. There is none that doeth good.
No, not one. Have the workers of iniquity
no knowledge? Eat up my peoples, eat bread.
They've not called upon God. There were they in great fear,
where no fear was. God says, okay, you fearless
people, I'm going to have you all shaken. Didn't it? What's he got to send to cause
people to just tremble, a germ? There were they in fear where
there was no fear. David said, put them in fear, O Lord, that
the nations may know themselves to be just men. And he did, and
he does. 2020 sent a plague, paralyzed
the world with fear, and we had some fear, shamefully. We had
some fear, didn't we? Yes, we did. But what did we
do? So what did we do? We turned to His Word. And what
did He do? He reassured us. He comforted
us through His Word. And the chains fell off and the
masks came off too. Didn't they? And we read Scripture
after Scripture after Scripture after Scripture. Everything I
turned to in those days just Reassure me, just told me. I'll
lay me down in peace and sleep. Thou, Lord, only makest me to
dwell in safety. Thou, Lord, will bless the righteous,
will favor. Thou shalt compass him as with
a shield. Shield, shield, shield, shield.
We just kept reading it, didn't we? Didn't we, sister? And we
met together and went to some of the sweetest times we have
ever experienced. And God reassured us through
what time I'm afraid, I'll hope in His Word. It's the only place
you're going to find it. If you listen to man, you'll
be full of fear. If you listen to God, your fears
will be relieved. You'll be full of faith. People
put signs in their yard about five years later. Faith, not
fear. Where were those signs then?
I'll tell you where they were. They were in God's house among
God's people. That's a fact. Isn't it? It's a shame to say we're all
afraid. Weren't we? Aren't you? I remember walking by people. I'm ashamed of that now. I am. I'm ashamed of myself. Aren't you? Will it happen again? It might. Did we learn anything?
Well, I hope so. What have we learned? Trust in
the Lord. We've got to keep learning that.
We've got to keep learning. As said, verse 5 and 6 surely
speaks of Christ here in our text. Every day they rest my
words. All their thoughts are against
me for evil. They gather themselves together. That sounds like Jeremiah
9, doesn't it? We read that. They hide themselves.
They're hidden in them. They mark my steps. They're waiting
for me to fall. They want me to fall. My enemy
wants me to fail. Shall they escape? Shall they
escape by iniquity? In thine anger cast down thy
people, O Lord. Cast them down. Our fears are
many. Our enemies are many. And look
at verse 8. Here's one of our greatest fears.
Thou tell us my wanderings. This is one of our greatest fears,
if not our greatest. Prone to wander. Lord, I feel
it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart. Oh, take and
seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. Are you prone to wander? Do you
feel it? Hmm? Oh, how many scriptures,
and you say, if you belong to God, you're not going to leave?
Why all the warnings? Forsake not this sealing yourselves
together as a matter of something else. Why all the warnings? It's
a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Because if we don't call on Him,
we'll wander. Yes, we will. See, don't presume call. Don't presume
on God's mercy. Cry. This is the fear of all God's
people. Fear of falling away, being overcome by the world.
Falling back, going back into the world. Yes it is. Sheep have two propensities,
two things they're naturally inclined to do. Number one is
follow. If you're a sheep, you have to follow your shepherd.
You have to. You need a shepherd, and you're glad to have a shepherd,
and you follow the shepherd, and you need the sheep. Sheep
need sheep. They do. They can't stand to
be alone. They can't. Can you? Do you want to be with
God's people? Do you want to be where Christ
is? Do you need Christ, your shepherd? Do you? Do you find
great comfort in the Lord being your shepherd? That means you're
a sheep. See, that sheep are gregarious. That means they congregate. They
flock together. There's no such thing as solitary
sheep. They have to have a shepherd, they have to have a fold, and
they mourn and pine when they feel like they're isolated. Is that you? That's a good sign
there. And they're also prone to wander.
Sheep. What are they looking for? Greener
grass. Isn't it so? If you didn't take
care of your grazing animals, what would happen to them? They'd break through the
fence and rob it and be worried until you found them. What's her name? Karen. That's what happened. They need to be cared for. Prone
to wander. Because why? They're dumb, stupid
animals. Don't say stupid. Yes, say stupid.
That's what I call myself. Stupid. You ever do a thing that's
stupid? How could you be so stupid? Don't
call other people that, but call yourself that. What's wrong with
you? Haven't you learned anything?
Not much. Why do we need a shepherd so
badly? We're prone to wander because we're dumb, stupid, poor,
needy. Our wanderings, we're bent to
backsliding. That's what God said. My people
are bent to backsliding. Right now, somebody's mind is
wandering in this house right now. Somebody's mind is wandering. You're struggling to keep your
mind on these things. Isn't that sad, isn't it? Words
of life. Jonah 2.8. Those that observe
lying vanities, forsake their own mercy. Those that look to
and think about Worried about anything but heavenly things,
forsake their own mercy. Prone to wander, Lord, I can
feel it. My fear is wandering off.
I don't want to wander off. If left to yourself, you will.
You'll wander off and you'll fall in a pit and you'll think
you're lost forever. Yes, you will. And it just remains
to be seen if you are. Right? Keep calling. Or you'll wander. Keep calling. All right, now our tears. Our
fears bring us tears, don't they? Our fears bring tears. Our troubles cause us to cry, don't they?
Cry unto the Lord. It's not unmanly to cry. It's
unmanly not to. When this is all over, the strongest
man over there is going to cry like a baby. Cry on a rock for
the rocks and the hills to follow him. It's not unmanly to cry. It's unmanly not to. It's a sign
of a broken and a contrite heart. That is what God will not despise.
He despises pride and vainglory of man and his own strength and
his own ability. But a broken and a contrite heart,
he will not despise. He'll hear that. He turned a deaf ear to all those
Pharisees that brought that woman in, guilty before him. They would
say, she's guilty. What did you say? And he made
as though he wasn't listening. He heard everything they said.
But he's not answering. But he's listening, and she's
not saying a word. The only one who wasn't saying
anything was that woman. But her heart is crying. And
he heard that. A broken and a contrite heart.
And he cleared them all out. He cleared all her adversaries
out, didn't he? All those that condemned her.
When it's all over, it's just him and her. Woman, where are
thine accusers? No man accused thee. I don't
see anybody. Neither do I. There's therefore
now no condemnation. But we cry. David said, I cry
unto thee. daily. He said, I water my bed
with my tears. You ever done that? How many
times? Look at verse eight. Is this
wonderful or what? Put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in that book? Everything about us is in His
book. And all our tears, every tear
a child of God has cried, is in His Bible. Now you think about
that. There's nothing insignificant
in the life of God's people. The very hairs of your head are
numbered. And your tears are collected. Our Lord doesn't miss anything.
Our Lord doesn't look over anything concerning us. There's no cry
unheard. God's people are never left alone. Ever. Isn't that something? We feel
it. He's going to make us feel it. Why? Because we forgot Him. And He's going to make us cry,
but He never left us. Do you understand me? Do you
understand me? And I'm not the one that said
that. He said, I will never leave you forsaken. A woman may leave
her second child, but Christ said, I will not. And He can't
lie. That soul that upon Jesus has
leaned for repose, He said, I'll never. No, never. Say it with me. No, never. Despise and leave. Never. Desert to its foe. Never. My,
my. God, verse 9, he says, God is
for me. See that? When I cry unto thee,
thy enemies turn back. So this I know. God is for me.
If he wasn't, I'd have been a goner a long time ago. I'd have killed
myself a long time ago. He'd have killed me. He let me
kill myself a long time ago. This I know, that I have never
kept myself one day in my life. Still don't. God must be for
me. I'm still here. Why? Well, I've
got a strong faith. No, I've got a strong Lord. God's for me. You know what Romans 8, 31 says,
if God be for it, who can be against it? Oh, he says, so in
God, I'll praise His Word. God, I put my trust. I will not
be afraid. Talk to yourself. This is one
time you need to talk to yourself. Quote God's Word to yourself.
I will not be afraid. What man can do in the middle.
Look at verse 12. Thy vows are upon me. I really, Psalm, Isaiah 54, real
quick, Isaiah 54, I really believe David's talking about God's,
the vows God made concerning him, not his vows. Not vows he
made concerning God. Right? We can't keep them. But
God's vows are upon us. I really believe that's the vows
he's talking about. Thy vows are upon me. His vows
are upon me. Covenant vow. A vow God made
in a covenant long before we were born to keep us, to save
us. by the blood of Christ. He'll keep that. He'll never
forget that. He'll remember it poor. We forget
it, he can't. He remembers his covenant. He'll
never forget that. Covenant is vows. It's vows of
marriage. Christ, before the world began,
God said, will you take this forlorn woman? Will you take
this adulterous woman? Will you take these wandering,
adulterous, Bride of yours, they're all sinful. Will you take these?"
He said, I will. And he did. I do. Till death do us part. And they
won't part us. In sickness or health. For better or for worse. Nothing
worse. It's all better. It's all good.
Because of our covenant head. His vow. Psalm Isaiah 54. Don't you love this? You may
think you're forsaken. You may think you're too ugly
to have a bridegroom like Christ. But verse 5 says, Thy maker is
thine husband. The Lord of hosts is his name.
The Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole
earth, shall he be called. The Lord hath called thee as
a forsaken woman, grieved in spirit. Everybody grieved in
spirit, feels forsaken. That's who he marries. That's
who he takes. A wife of you, when thou wast
refused, nobody will have me." That's the only ones the Lord
has. And once He has you, to have
and to hold forever. He'll have you and He'll hold
you forever. That's right. But I'm too ugly. It's the only kind He marries
people. He said, in a little wrath I hid my face from thee
for a moment, and with everlasting kindness I'll have mercy on thee,
saith the Lord thy Redeemer. Don't you love that? Listen to
me. You're not too ugly. You were ugly when he found you.
You were ugly when he found you. Remember Ezekiel 16? Your mother was a Hittite. Your
father was a Hivite. You were cast out in the field
in your own blood. No eye pitted you. Stinking, rotten, polluted,
and your own sin and blood. And I passed by you and I said,
these are not... Too ugly? No, no, no, no. Not
to him, not ugly at all. Listen to Psalm of Solomon. Don't give up on me now, people.
Stop wondering. Listen to this. Listen to this.
It's going to be a blessing to you. Listen to Song of Solomon. This is what Christ says about
his bride. Thou art fair, my love. Thou art fair. Thou hast dove's
eyes. Oh, you say it's talking about
him. No, it's not. That's what they say about him. That's what
he says about her. Oh, yeah. Too ugly? Our Lord
wasn't beautiful to look on, was he? Had no form or countenance,
no beauty. All these proud people all the
way don't need him. He's proud and fair so we don't
need him. Boy with the poor and the downtrodden and the ugly
and the forsaken, they need him. He says they aren't fair. He
says in verse 7 of the Song of Solomon, verse 4, He says, Thou
art all fair, my love, there is no spot in thee. I can't find any fault in you. Why? Because Ezekiel 16 says,
Our beauty was made beautiful through His comeliness. When I saw you, He said, I spread
my skirt on you. Love covereth all the ugliness. Too ugly. Well, I'm too old.
You ever too old, John? What was your text? Psalm 71. You remember that? I know you
do. Cast me not off in old age. Forsake me not when my strength
faileth. Oh, when I'm old and gray-headed,
oh God, forsake me not. Really? He can't. When I first fell in love with
my wife, she was 17 years old. She didn't have a spot or a wrinkle. Now, now be careful about that. You see, young people, Abby,
you just don't understand. When you hit 60 or something
like that, you're going to get these spots. They're going to
pop up. Where did that come from? They're
going to pop up everywhere. And it wrinkles. She's got a few. Only got a few. She's more beautiful to me than
she ever was. And that's exactly what our Lord
says about His people. You know that? That's exactly
what He says about it. I'm too ugly. Lord, I can't be
a child of God. You don't understand. You just
don't understand. Greater loveth no man than this.
But I'm old and I've forgotten everything. He can't forget. Do you understand? His vows are
upon you. He made a promise and he keeps
his promise. May God bless him. Psalm 56, so he says, I will
render praises unto thee. Verse 12. Oh my. He deserves
it all, doesn't he? Doesn't he deserve our praise?
That's why we meet. God forbid that we should glory
or talk about one another and man and all that. We're here
to exalt our Lord. Thou hast delivered my soul from
death. Wilt thou not deliver my feet
from falling? I don't want to fall ever again,
but that I may walk before God in the light of the living. I was going to turn to Psalm
116, deliver my feet from falling, my eyes from tears. I hope that was a blessing to
you. I hope the Lord got glory from it. Stand with me.