Thank you, Robin, for playing
willingly and skillfully. Thank you. Thank you, John, for
leading the singing. This is scriptural. Psalm 5,
go back there. This psalm, like so many, is
a prayer. It's another cry. We pray, we
cry, we call in upon the Lord, don't we? I know you're like
me, that our prayers, though they're full of thanksgiving
and petitions, yet most of the time we call in on the Lord to
help. Help. Help me. Help us. Help. We need
help, don't we? In the midst of all the trouble
and sin and sorrow and wickedness that he talks about here, It's
a cry for help to keep him. David is the writer, psalmist. A cry for help that the Lord
will keep him, lead him in the way of righteousness, he said,
because of my enemies. David talks a great deal about
his enemies, doesn't he? Like all of God's people, he's
in the world, but not of it. And he's got nothing but trouble
in the world. Vexed like a lot inside of him.
But this ends in joy. It's a cry for help in the midst
of trouble, a plea for help, and help with his enemies, but
it ends up joyfully. And that's the way I want this
to end. It is going to end that way. I mean, this. We're God's people. We bury our
loved ones in sorrow. Oh, my. They wake up joyful forever. No tears ever again. No sin. No death. He ends up
with this exhortation, this command. It says, the last part of verse
11, let all those that love thy name be joyful in thee. Let them be joyful. Shout for
joy. We looked one time at a message,
and I think it was Joshua. He was getting ready to destroy
Jericho and take Rahab out. And the title of that message
was, it's all over but to shout him. Walls are coming down, Rahab's
coming out. It's all over but to shout him.
And he told them to shout before it happened. Be joyful in the
Lord. It's a declaration also. A declaration
of what our Lord will do, has done, and will do. It says, like,
remember Psalm 91? He will, He will, He will, He
will, He will. Well, this ends that way. He
will. He will, surely. That's His name. Surely. Verse 1, give ear to my words,
O Lord. Consider my meditation. Hearken
unto the voice of my cry, my King, my God. God's people say that in reverence,
don't they? In fear. God's people say that
from the heart, while the world is blaspheming God. Oh my God. That's taking His name in vain. God's people say that from the
heart in reverence and respect and in fear. You're my God. God will not hold them guiltless
who takes His name in vain. That's what the Scripture says.
Oh, don't let... We call His name, don't we? And
we do it in fear and in reverence and respect, and we call on Him
from the heart, You're my King, You're my God, unto Thee will
I pray, please hear me. We're not praying to be heard
by people. That's what the Pharisees did.
They said they prayed to be seen, to be heard, but people be impressed
with their prayers. Not us. We want one person to hear us.
God, will He? Will God hear our prayers? Who
will He hear? Well, Christ said at Lazarus'
tomb, He said, I know that thou always hearest Me. See, you have
to have an advocate. You have to have a mediator. A mediator is not of one, but
of two, between two people. You have to have an intercessor. You have to have someone who's
a go-between to a holy God, And I'm a sinner. Will God hear a
sinner? In Christ He will. Look at Psalm 34. Go over to
Psalm 34. You have His Word upon you. He will. Does He? Will He? Who
will He hear? Look at Psalm 34. This is wonderful. Look at this. Psalm 34 verse
1. I will bless the Lord at all
times. His praise shall continually
be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast
in the Lord." David was ashamed of himself. David hated himself,
but he loved the Lord. David didn't boast in himself.
He knew that by the grace of God he was what he was. He boasted
in his Lord. That's what Paul said, God forbid
that I should boast save in the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ.
Do you glory in Him? Do you boast in Him? Do you humble
yourself? The humble, verse 2, shall hear
and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me.
Do you want to magnify the Lord? Huh? Exalt His name? Our names are nothing. We are a bunch of nobodies. I sought the Lord. David was
seeking the Lord. David was boasting to the Lord.
David was praising the Lord. David was magnifying the Lord.
David exalting His name. I sought the Lord and He heard
me and delivered me from all my
fear. David was afraid. We cried, what time I'm afraid,
David said, I'll trust in the Lord. Call on the Lord. I owe that our generation right
now, we're calling on the Lord. But no, they don't fear the Lord,
they fear things. They fear this virus more than
they do the Lord. Who will the Lord hear? Those
that humble themselves, those that seek Him, those that call
on Him in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, those that magnify
Him, those that exalt His name, those that boast in Him. and
Him alone. Read on, it says here, Psalm
34, verse 36, This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him. What
do you think about yourself? What do you think about yourself?
David said, I'm a poor excuse for a man. That's what he said. This poor, pitiful... You know when he wrote this,
it was right after he was a madman. He played the madman. He acted
crazy. He lost his mind for briefly.
He was taking refuge in a gaff in the world. He wasn't trusting
the Lord. He was looking to the world and this wicked king. And
he took refuge there and he lost his mind. And he was sore, afraid. And the Lord brought him back
to his right mind. That's when he went down in that
cave. He prayed this when he was in that cave. And 400 men
came to him in that cave. And that's when he came to his...
The Lord brought him back to his senses. What were you doing
taking refuge with that ungodly king? He can't save you. God
alone can't. What are you doing being afraid
of him? Fear me, God said. And David came to his senses.
The Lord brought him back and he said, this poor, this poor,
pitiful excuse for a believer. This poor man, poor, wretched,
vile, no good sinner cried unto the Lord. He should have quit
listening to me after I did what I did, but he didn't. The Lord
heard me. Again. Who will he hear? Poor,
wretched sinners. That's who he'll hear. Say, I
ain't no wretch, and God won't listen to you. You don't need
Christ. When everybody realizes they're
poor and needy, they need Christ. Do you? He'll hear you. He does
hear you. And saved him out of all his
troubles. Well, that's Psalm 34. We're in Psalm 5. Go back there. On and on we could go with that. Do you bless Him? Do you praise
Him? Do you boast in Him? Do you seek Him? Do you look
to Him? This poor man cried. Look to the Lord, you poor. The
Lord says He'll bless the righteous. Down through here it talks about
the righteous, down through Psalm 34, all through the Bible it
talks about the wicked and the righteous, the wicked and the
righteous, the wicked and the righteous. Who's that? Well, every human being that's
born on this earth is born wicked. That's what the scripture said.
God's people know it by experience. The Holy Spirit comes through
the preaching of the word and convicts them and convinces them. First thing is you're a rebel
against God. You've lived, you're born. He
gave you life. He gave you everything. He girded
you, though you didn't know him. He fed you. Your breath is in
his hands. Everything you've ever received.
down from him and you've never given him a thought. You've never
thanked him. You've never called on him. You've
never asked him for forgiveness for trespassing on his earth.
Boasting and you boast, you're proud, you do all these things.
Never give God a thought. God ought to snuff us out. Bite
the hand that feeds you. How long would you put up with
a dog that just bit you and growled at you? That's mankind. That was bad. Wasn't it you?
But God. So you're all wicked, all sinful,
all wretched, miserable, without God and without hope until God
comes through the preaching of the gospel. Born again, that's
what our Lord Jesus called it, a new life. Gives eyes to see
who God is. Eyes to see what you are. Eyes
to see the truth. Ears to hear. Whereas once before,
I don't want to hear that. Anything but that. I don't believe
that. A heart to believe, a heart to
receive, a poor, needy sinner, needful of this gospel more than
anything, more than life itself. I need this because I'm a dying
sinner and God ought to put me out, put me out of here. But
God, rich in mercy, for his great love, wherewith he loved some
people, yea, many, sent the gospel to them. Like you're hearing
right now. Sent Jesus Christ down to this
earth to save what? Sinners. Not good people. He
didn't die for good people. He died for sinners. Create madmen
like David. That's who He died for. Well,
they're not going to get to God unless He brings them. He's got
to make them righteous. He's got to pay for their sins. And he's got to make them righteous.
Got to be a new creature in Christ. This is a mystery. Like the scripture says, you're
dead and your life is hid with God in Christ, meaning that that
new person is hid from the world. People don't see it. And even
ourselves, we have a hard time understanding it. But there is
a new creature, a new man created in Christ Jesus, in his image,
by the word of God, the incorruptible seed. That all of a sudden, one
day, starts thinking about God. Starts calling on God. Starts
hearing God's word and loving it. You know what the greatest
proof of depravity is? That man hates God. That's Romans
3. It says, hate God. I don't hate God. Then why is
it so difficult to get anybody to come and worship the Lord?
I'd rather go to the dentist. Honestly, it's like pulling tea.
Not telling anybody to do anything. Not going to call on anybody.
Not going to recognize anybody. Not going to do anything. Just
going to sit and listen to God's Word. Sing a few songs, which
He's worthy of. And we're going to call on Him
to help us poor sinners. What's wrong with that? There
ain't nothing better. There ain't nothing right but
this. It's a good thing what we're
doing. So why is it so difficult to
get people to just come and see it? Just to hear what God says? Because we're dead. Fools. The fool has said, damn those
guys, I don't believe this, I don't believe any of that. Well, I'll
tell you who said all this, it was Jesus Christ. And everybody that doesn't believe
this is calling Jesus Christ a liar. And I felt that way. I did that. I said everything my dad preached
is foolishness. I said that. Boy, I'd love to take that back. Here I am. I'm preaching. This is mercy. You're a recipient
of great mercy and grace. We don't have many in here this
morning, but you, thank God, you're one of the few. Many are
called, few are chosen. Straight is the gate, narrow
is the way, and few there be that find it. Do you know what
the narrow gate is, the straight gate, and the narrow way is?
It's Jesus Christ. He's the way to God, only way
to God. You know that, don't you? You know that. You know
Him. Why are you here? to worship the Lord. Bless God. Where are we? He's my King. He's my God. Unto Him will I
pray. My voice, verse 3, shalt thou
hear in the morning, O Lord. In the morning will I direct
my prayer unto Thee, and will look up. My voice shalt thou
hear in the morning. Why is that? Because His mercies
are new every morning. Because His compassions, they
fail not. It's of the Lord's mercies we're not concerned.
We wake up in the morning, we give thanks. God in whose hands
our breath is. If we get to lie down at night
and go to sleep, give thanks. My voice shalt thou hear in the
morning. Why? Because He deserves the
firstfruits, doesn't He? He deserves the firstfruits.
Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, which
is Jesus Christ. And all these things will be
added to you. Before we do anything or say anything, we ought to
give thanks to our Lord. My voice shalt thou hear no more.
Thank you, Lord. Thou alone... Look at chapter
4, verse 8. It ends this, I will lay me down
in peace and sleep, for thou only makest me dwell in safety. My mother, she... She never locks her front door.
And I go over there, and the door's unlocked. I said, Mom,
lock the front door. I'm beginning to think, what's
the use? Who makes her to dwell safely?
Huh? It ain't Smith and Wesson. It's
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's our shield. Is that right? That is right. That is true. One time, I told
you about this, one time I went over there and the front door
had been kicked in. Somebody, it was locked for once, and somebody
took their foot and hit the door, busted the whole door jam, trying
to get in that hat. Who was it? Drug-crazed kid walking
by? Knew it was an old woman in there?
Maybe. What happened? Nothing. I fixed the door. I left it unlocked. So that's foolish. No, it's not.
It's faith. It's truth. Thou alone make me dwell safely. We go to bed, give thanks. Wake
up in the morning, give thanks. Firstfruits. They that seek Me
early, He said, shall find Me. Here's just good counsel. It's
a command, but here's good counsel. You start today giving thanks
to your Lord, your day will go better. You start today seeking
His will through His Word, your day will go better. You're going
to have trouble no matter what. You're going to have trouble
with this flesh. If you ignore your Lord, He just might let
you have it. I know that from experience.
Okay. Go after the world. See what
he gets you. They deceived me early. And in
finding him, you find peace. You find wisdom. You find faith. Have you experienced that? My voice. Thou art not, read
verses four through six, Thou art not a God that hath pleasure
and wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with thee. The foolish,
those that forget God, don't know God, don't give God a thought,
shall not stand in his sight, be cast out. Thou hatest all
workers of iniquity. There's not one in a thousand
that's read this scripture. They believe God loves every
single human being. He does not. Says he hates some people. Verse 6, Thou shalt destroy them
that speak leasing. The word is lies. A whole lot of lying going on today.
Lying on God. Leasing to abhor the bloody and
deceitful man. This is the bloodiest. It's the
bloody people who love blood. Deceitful? Deceit? It's hard
to find truth. But as for me, David said, But as for me, and such were some of you, but
God, you've been washed, you've been sanctified, you've been
justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, but as for
me, see, we were right in the middle of that, walking according
to the course of this world, prince of the power of the air,
children of wrath, even as others, but God, but as for me, David
is not bragging here, he's boasting in his Lord, but as for me, because
of the mercy of the Lord, because of the grace of the Lord, because
He chose me, because He bought me, because He taught me, because
He brought me to Himself. As for me, look at verse 7, I
will come into thy house, I'm going to come meet with God's
people. It's not a chore. He said it's better than life. Right? I'm going to come into
thy house. Why, David? Because in the multitude
of thy mercy. Because it's of your mercy. And
in thy fear, verse 7, will I worship toward thy holy temple. What's
that? That's Jesus Christ. Solomon
prayed that prayer after the dedication of the temple. And
he said, wherever you are, whoever you are, no matter what you've
done, how sinful you are, You pray toward the temple and the
Lord will hear you. We don't pray toward Jerusalem. Christ is our temple. In Him
we dwell. Alright? With the people of God,
they are met in His name. And we pray toward Him. And here's
our prayer, verse 8. Lead me, O Lord, in Thy righteousness
because of mine enemy. The enemy. My adversary. Didn't he say in Psalm 23, lead
us not into temptation. A brother and I were lamenting
our sinfulness and how we fall to temptation. And we may think
that we fall to any and every temptation, but we don't. The
Lord keeps us from so much that we don't know man. Lead me, though. Here's what the child of God
says. Lead me, O Lord. I don't know
which way to turn. If you don't lead me, I'll go
astray. If you don't lay your hand on
me, if you don't guide me, if you don't instruct me, I'll be
a fool. If you don't lead me, if you don't keep a short leash
on me, I'll head right back to the flying pit. A wild ass's coat doesn't want
to be led. You know that? They don't want
to be led. A wild dog doesn't want to be
led. Doesn't want a leash on it. But
a tame one does. It wants to be right beside the
message. There's safety. Lead me in thy righteousness. That is, lead me to Christ. Lead
me by Christ. Lead me in thy righteousness.
Because of my enemies, make thy way straight before my face.
Straight is the gate. He said, strive to enter in the
straight gate. Strive, oh Lord, let me strive. Make me strive. Strive, strive,
strive. Make thy way straight before
my face. Let me not look here, let me
not look there, let me not look behind me. Forget that and look
straight on to Christ. I run this race. Verse 9, he
goes on, they're the world. There's no faithfulness in their
mouth. Inward parts bear weakness. Their
throat is an open sepulcher. Oh, the filth and the blasphemy
that comes out of man's mouth and flattery. That's worse than
flattery with a tongue, hatreds in the heart. Verse 10, Destroy
thou them, O God, let them fall by their own counsels. They will. The counsel of the wicked will
be brought to nothing, but the counsel of the Lord shall stand. God, and I've got to do something. Something needs to be done. Their
mouths must be stopped. But, now, here, going to end
in joy, okay? Look at verse 11. Let all those
that put their trust in Thee rejoice. When I look around,
I see nothing but sadness and sorrow and fear and darkness
and dimness and anguish of spirit. And what Isaiah 8 says, they
look to the world, look to the leaders of the world, they look
bad too. They look sad too. They look
like they're scared. David said in Psalm 9, he said,
put them in fear, O Lord, that the nations may know themselves
just men. That's all they are. Put them
in fear. So he has. And we look all around for some
reason to rejoice, and there's no reason. Will this ever end? Maybe not. But it will for us. It will for God's people. Those
that sow in tears shall reap in joy. All weeping may endure
for a night, Scripture says. But what? Joy shall come in the
morning. This morning. How about we start
right now? Right now. This morning. The
voice of joy and gladness. I trust in the Lord. Do you trust
in the Lord? By God's grace, I trust in the
Lord. By God's grace, you trust in
the Lord. You look to Him. It says in verse 3, My voice
shalt thou hear in the morning, and unto thee will I look up.
We need to look up. David in Psalm 42 said, I'm cast
down. Oh my soul, I am cast down, O
Lord, but why art thou cast down, O my soul?" Look to the Lord. Look up! Our Lord said in Luke
21, He said, when you see all these things, look up! Your redemption draweth nigh. Look up! Let them ever shout
for joy. Why? Verse 11, because thou defendest
them. Thou defendest them. John said this, 1 John 2, he
said, My little children, I write unto you that you sin not. Oh,
the misery, sadness, sorrow, sin is brought upon planet earth.
That's why all this is going on. But if any man sin, we have
an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ is righteous. We
have an advocate. We have a lawyer. He defends
every guilty sinner. He defends us. The adversary
says, he's guilty. Christ says, no, he's not. Like
that woman caught in the act of adultery and every one of
us had been by God. When it's all over, just her.
If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquity, who shall stand? Well,
in that story of that woman caught in adultery, cast at our Lord's
feet, when it's all over, she's the only one standing. With Him. Him and her. Everybody else is
gone. Convicted. And he said, woman,
where are your accusers? I can't help but think, she starts
smiling. No way, I don't see anybody convicting
me. I don't see anybody slaying anything
to my charge. Why? Because that's God standing
there, and he justified her freely for my whole time. You reckon
she went out there rejoicing? You reckon? What about Ruth? She came back to Bethlehem sad
and sorrowed with nothing, poor and needy, and her hat was to
light on the field that belonged to Boaz. And her mother-in-law
said, you go lie down at his feet, that man won't rest until
he finishes this thing. He'll restore everything you've
lost. And he did. And he came to her and wooed
her and talked to her and said, I'm your kinsman redeemer. He
said, I'm going to give you everything back, everything you lost. You
reckon she rejoiced? You reckon she was, she went
home skipping and jumping. By thee, David said, I've run
through a troop and leaped over a wall. Now we're not going to
get Pentecostal here. But in the heart, let them shout
for joy. I'm doing the shouting for you.
Thou defend us there. The margin says, cover us. Didn't you read that? Cover them.
We're covered. We use that term, I got you covered.
No, you don't. He does. Is this a fable? Is this just
a Bible term? It's truth. Christ said, I'll
cover you. You're under His wings. Really? More really than anything you
see out there. This is all a soap bubble. The
things that are seen are temporal. The things that are not seen
are eternal. Underneath are the everlasting
are. We're in His hand. I can't see
Him. You are. Under His wings. Covered. Covered. You can't touch
not my anointing, He said, until I say it's time. Right? Does that give you peace? Let them also that love thy name
be joyful in thee. I cringe. You know, we watch
movies and some TV and they say God and take God's name and then
they say Jesus. They even say that for Christ's
sake. It just pierces my heart. Use my mother's name. Don't use
my Lord. Does that bother you? We love his name. We love that
name. We wouldn't let him take our
mother's name. We wouldn't let him desecrate our father's name.
We wouldn't let him desecrate the one we love the name. We
love his name. We make mention that his name
is exalted. We defend His name. He defends
us, we defend His name, His honor, His glory. Verse 12, let's end
this. For thou, Lord, wilt bless the
righteous. Christ is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness. In Him we are righteous, holy,
unblameable, unreprovable in God's sight. Once like everybody else, but
now in Christ, holy, unblameable, righteous before the... Thee
have I seen righteous in my generation, Noah. And he said, he will bless. He will bless with salvation,
with favor, with thought. Here it is again. Compass. Compass. Compass. As with a shield. Compass. With favor. You know
that we're just like Mary, the former virgin. God's people. Found favor, that's what God
said to Mary, that came to her. Thou hast found favor in the
eyes of the Lord. You're well beloved. You've found
favor among women. The Lord's favored you. And that
holy thing in you is of the Lord. Christ in her. Well, that's us. We've found favor in the eyes
of the Lord. We're His favorites. We're His favorites. Those who
have Christ in them. God loves you. Those who know
Christ, those who trust Christ, those who look to Christ, smile. God loves you. Rejoice. He will bless you. He has, He
doth, and He will ever bless you. His great name says. So
be joyful in the Lord. Let me read this in closing.
My dad, in the article in the book, I put that in there. He
says, Are you happy? Yes, but I'm not without times
of sorrow and depression like any human. I weep. over loved
ones, friends, sickness, death, and disappointment, but I sorrow
not as those who have no hope. Christ is my hope. He loved me, gave himself for
me, and He'll make all these things work together for my eternal
good. I know it's Him. I was going to have us read Ezra
3, where it says that people were crying and laughing at the
same time. They couldn't distinguish the cries from their laughter.
Then I was going to have us read Nehemiah 8, where it said the
people were weeping, and he said, don't weep. Don't even be sorry. The joy of the Lord is your strength.
Rejoice. Your sins are gone. God's not
angry with you. Nothing He does is anger or wrath
or evil. It's not evil. It's good. It's
all good. Like David Edmund said, He's
out to do you good. Whatever God's out to do, He
does. He will. Listen, are you at rest in your
soul? Yes, but I'm not free from concern
and conviction over my sin, my infirmity. I love Christ, but
not like I should or not like I want to. Christ is my rest. Yes, I'm satisfied with Him,
His mercy, His grace, His love, but I'll never be totally satisfied
with me until I awake with His likeness and His promise that
we will. Do you have peace? Yes, but that
peace with God, peace of conscience, peace in any situation or condition
is not based on me or feelings or anything around me. Christ
is my peace. In this world I have tribulations,
but Christ I have peace. He said, in me you have peace.
A man or a woman who claims continual uninterrupted joy and rest and
peace and happiness in this world is just not telling the truth.
True joy, rest, and peace are things we enjoy in Christ in
the midst of troubles, afflictions. Paul told us to rejoice in the
Lord. We have weakness, we have failure,
we have sin, but we rejoice in Christ. And someday, all our
tears and sorrows, God's scripture says, are going to wipe away,
wipe it all away, Himself. I love this. One time, my dad
was burying another brother. And I wasn't there, Brother John
Chapman. told me this. They were walking away from that
grave, and Dad said, I'll sure be glad when
we all quit dying, and we don't have to bury another
brother. Well, look up. That time is very
short, very soon. All right, let's sing a closing
hymn. What number, John?