I called one of the preacher brethren
and said, this is such a simple outline, I don't know why I've
never really seen it. But very simple. Here it is. The Lord has been favorable to
these people. And then David asked, well, will He? Will He
continue? Will He? And then he says, I'm
going to wait and see what he says. I'm going to listen to
it. And then the Lord says, I surely will. Surely. And then David
says, how can we be so sure? And he answers him with the last
few verses. Look at verse 1. The Lord has
been favorable unto thy land. Thou, Lord, thou hast been. This
is a prayer. Thou hast been favorable. Thou
hast been merciful. Thou hast been gracious. to your
land, your people. You brought back the captivity
of Jacob. Jacob have I loved, Lord said.
We've already been thinking about God's election, haven't we? And
God chose the people before the world began. And that they might
know and understand Him, who He is. That it is the Lord. Whatever it is, it's the Lord.
Most people don't believe that. But we know we believe God. We
really do. God has chosen a people that
they might know something about their sin against God. And repent. Ask Him for mercy. And then God
has shown them the sin-bearer, the Lord Jesus Christ. And they
believe Him and they trust Him. And they're His people. That's
who His people are. God showed all that to Jacob. Jacob had
that love. God's been merciful, gracious.
He says He brought him out of captivity. It's like the children of Israel.
the world and brought them out, God's people. He's bringing us
out of this world, bringing the world out of us. Verse 2, here's
the way God's been favored, He's forgiven the iniquity of thy
people. We're sinners like everybody
else in this world are. What God's doing, He's doing
justly, but He hasn't dealt with us after our sins, He dealt with
Christ. And He's forgiven the iniquity
of God's people. That's what causes us more fear
than anything else. We think all this is coming on
the world, and God descended it, and it's wrath of God. Is
He doing this to me? Is it going to be judgment? No,
not if you believe Christ. Not if you trust Christ. He's
forgiven all the iniquity of His people. Verse 2, Thou hast
covered all their sin. Covered. There's a book where
it is written everything that human beings have ever done.
That's right. The book of life. Every idle
word. Our Lord Jesus Christ said that every man was given account
for every idle word. How many idle words have we uttered? Sin and on and on it goes. There's
a book. But now, the scripture says he's
blotted out the handwriting of ordinances against us. Scripture
says Christ nailed them to His cross. The law that was against
us, our sins that make us guilty before God, Christ blotted them
out. He's covered them. Covered them. Under the blood. Not there. They're
gone. Look at verse 3. Taking away
all His wrath. There is no eternal wrath or
judgment for God's people. There is for some, those outside
of Christ, like those outside of Noah's Ark. He's turned himself
on the fierce of his anger. God is angry, is, right now,
angry with the wicked every day. Well, we work wicked works, don't
we? That's what he said in 2 Chronicles,
Solomon's prayer, my people turn from their wicked way. Turn where?
Turn to God for mercy. Look to Christ to sacrifice. Well, he has, because God poured
out on Christ his anger, his fierceness, all of it, the eternal
wrath and judgment. Verse 4, but David knows himself
and knows his people. Like Isaiah said, I'm a man of
unclean lips and dwell in the midst of the people. And he says
in verse 4, turn us. I believe God has turned His
people. I know He has. That's what He said. You have.
Brother Dan, I was a wild ass's colt heading to destruction.
Heading, going my way. But God turned me by the gospel. Turned me. Stopped my wild career. Like the raging ocean, His attitude
shall ye come no further. Stop. Turn around. Come unto
me. And I did. If He hadn't said
that, I wouldn't. Well, often, all of us are prone
to wander. We're still sheep, and we're
prone to do the same thing. Anybody in here prone to run
from your trouble? I'm just going to run. Thank
God, He'll come get you. He'll turn us, oh God. First
chapter, Psalm 80, and we looked at this together. He said, turn
us again, oh Lord God. And again, he said that three
times in one song, turn us again and again and again. Turn us,
turn us, turn our eyes away from this world. Turn our eyes. from
looking within. Turn our eyes and our ears away
from everybody and everything I'm hearing. Please, Lord, let
me tune my ears to what You're saying and my eyes look to You. You're my salvation. You only
will cause me to dwell in safety. Lord, turn away my ears and turn
away my eyes. Turn me. He's done it. He did it before. So David says,
will you do it again? Verse 5. Wilt thou be angry with
us forever? Wilt thou draw out thine anger
to all generations? Now, brethren, go to Psalm 90
with me. Psalm 90. Psalm 90. I tell us to read this all the
time. And we should. Now, as much as ever. And Psalm 91. Read Psalm 90,
which talks about our God in whom we live and move and have
our being, the frailty, the brevity of life. Sin, wrath, judgment,
and yet the salvation of his people. And then Psalm 91 says,
so don't be afraid. These two Psalms. But Psalm 90,
look at verse 7. We're consumed by thine anger,
by thy wrath are we troubled. You set our iniquities before
you, our secret sins in light of thy countenance. Verse 9,
all our days are passed away in thy wrath. God's people, like Israel of
old, clearly see the judgments of God, the wrath of God. Not
eternal, but at least some of the wrath of God. Not all of
it, but some of it. It is wrath. That's what the
scripture said. Romans 1.18 said, The wrath of
God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men. And he that believeth not, John 3.36, the wrath of
God. A bite on him. Is that what it said? Right now. Not all of it. Not what shall
be. A nevertheless wrath and anger.
Well, does God ever get angry with His people? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Did you ever get angry
with that son of yours, Mac? Oh, did you? Did he ever feel
your wrath? I bet he felt Mama's wrath. I
did. And he needed to, didn't he?
And did you pour out all your wrath on him? Oh, no. My parents,
my dad couldn't remember spanking me. I remember, what did I remember? I feared him. I knew he loved
me. I wasn't scared of him to death,
but I feared him. Can you explain that? No, you
can't. But that's God's people. But,
you know, He did pour out some of His wrath on me. And I deserved
it. Some of it. I needed to feel
it. Didn't I? Don't we? That's what He said
in Psalm 106. He said, listen to this. Psalm
106. He said about His people. His people. He said, My wrath,
the wrath of the Lord was kindled against His people. He gave them
into the hand of the heathen. Their enemies oppressed them,
brought them under subjection, because many times He delivered
them and they provoked Him. They provoked Him. They provoked
Him. But He never delivered them. He regarded their affliction
when He heard their cry. He remembered for them His covenant.
That's crying. He repented according to the
multitude of His mercies and He pitied them. But they're going
to feel something. They're going to feel something
of anger. They need to. They need to. So David says, will you? Go back to our text. Will you
be angry with us? One time David said, Lord, are
your mercies clean gone? He was feeling something of the
anger of God. He says in verse 6, wilt thou
not revive us again? Was anybody here to hear Habakkuk
or did you hear Habakkuk? Oh Lord, I've heard your speech
and I was afraid. He said, Wilt thou not revive
us in the midst of the years? In the midst of the years make
known? In wrath, remember mercy, that's what Habakkuk said. Daniel
prayed it. Ezekiel prayed it. Zephaniah prayed it. Solomon
prayed it. David prayed it. Lord, Will you
not revive us? Do you need reviving? Do you
ever need reviving? That's one reason why all this
is happening, to revive His people. We get at ease into where everything's
fine. How long have we been saying
that, that something like this could happen? Huh? I never dreamed
it would be so quick, but it has happened. Haven't I been
saying that? It just can't go on forever. Never has. Never will. But it's goodness and mercy to
God's people. It's goodness and mercy to revive
us. To show us we don't have any
continuing sin here. This is not our land. God is literally, seriously going
to be done with this place. And He's taking us out. And all
the plagues of Egypt was to show, Jennifer, show His people, you're
coming out. This is not where you're staying.
You're coming out. Why? Because I love you. I chose you. I revealed this
to you. I've got to bring you out with
a high hand. I've got to lay hold of you like
light. Doesn't even matter. He's got to lay hold of us because
we linger. Oh, I don't want to die. And they told him, have mercy. David says, will you not revive
us again that thy people may rejoice in thee? Show us thy
mercy, verse 7. O Lord, grant us thy salvation.
Well, will He? So, point number one, God has,
I know He has. There's a whole cloud of witnesses,
Hebrews 12 said, Right now in glory it went through everything
or anything or worse thing than we've ever gone through ever.
A whole cloud of witnesses brother Dan that will tell us right now.
God sent it. God's merciful. God's good. He's
mercy into it forever. What were we worried about? We're
now with him in glory and all our fears are gone. Just like
he said. And we don't know why we didn't
believe him. A whole cloud of witnesses. But he knows our prayers. He knows our prime. And we say,
will He? Will He do this for me? Surely
not me. Listen to what God says about
surely. Look at it. Verse 8, I'll hear
what God the Lord will speak. He will speak peace unto His
people, to His saints. Over and over again, brethren,
the Lord says there is no peace for the wicked. For those that
don't give God a thought, they're never going to find any peace.
Their peace will be temporal. It won't last. And those that
make a pretense at religion, there's no peace for them. They're
not going to find any peace in this false religion. Their preachers
have told them so much, God loves you, and God has a wonderful
plan for your life, and God doesn't want anything bad to happen.
What are they telling them now? What are they telling them now? Like
God said in Isaiah, go, call on to the gods that you cannot
save. Call on them now. And what we say, the God of the
Bible, what God said, God did it. And we're just going to trust
Him. And it's for our good. He did
want this to happen or it wouldn't happen. Now here, but God will speak
peace to His people, verse 8. But look at this warning. Let
them not turn again to folly. There is forgiveness with thee,
David said, that thou mayest be feared. Don't turn again. Oh my, may the Lord turn us and
never let us turn away again. Verse 9, here's the answer. Surely,
surely will the Lord Will He be angry forever? Will He draw
out His anger? Will He not revive His people that they may rejoice
in Him? Will He show us mercy? Will He
grant us His salvation? It belongs to Him. Salvation
belongs to the Lord. He gives it to whom He wills.
Will He? Will He? David said, I'll hear what He
says. And He will speak peace. God said, I know my thoughts
toward you, those that believe Him. Thoughts of peace. Surely,
verse 9, I hope somebody's with me, listening over the airway
or whatever, sitting here. His salvation is nigh them that
fear Him, that glory may dwell in our land. Brethren, we're
telling this generation something that they don't want to hear,
something they do not believe. And though we ourselves are afraid,
this is what really gives us comfort, that God did it. And we are afraid, but we trust
Him. We fear the Lord. We know something about the fear
of the Lord, don't we? We do, we do. There was a time,
brother, there was a time, brother of mine, I did not fear the Lord.
I didn't give Him a thought. How about you? Was there another
time where you didn't? It crossed your mind. Anything
you did, you did it. No thoughts about sin, the consequences,
no thoughts of God, no thanks, nothing. Never thought of that. And this is what he puts in his
people, fear. They're afraid to assemble, I'm
afraid not to. Until such a time as we cannot,
by God's grace we will. Because we're calling on Him,
we're begging Him. Everybody else is too, I know
that. But, oh Lord. His salvation is near them that
fear Him, that glory may dwell in our land. There's no glory
in the gospel for those that don't fear Him. There's no glory
for the people of the world. But the glory of the gospel is
there. Now listen, here it is. Here's
the last point. Will He? I know He has. Will
He? Will He be merciful? Well, let's
hear His answer. And how can we be so sure? He says, surely. Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Brethren, this is one of the
greatest verses in all of God's Word. Mercy and truth are met
together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Here's the truth. Now, here's
the truth. God is holy. God is just. God will by no means
clear the guilty. That's the truth. God will punish
sin. The wrath of God abides upon
the ungodly right now. Yes, it does. God is angry with
the wicked every day. That's the truth. False preachers
don't say that, but it's the truth. So help me, God. That's what this book says. Oh,
all the way through. All right. But God is merciful. God is just. Isn't he, Brother
Patrick? We know this. The world doesn't care. We know
it is. We do care. He is a just God. Every sin shall receive a just
recompensable reward. That's what the scripture said.
He's a just God and a Savior. Here's the truth, God is holy.
Brother Barnard used to say, God doesn't just forgive sins.
He's got to be faithful. Well, mercy and truth are met
together. Mercy. God is merciful. He will
not give some people what they deserve. He won't give them that
eternal wrath and that judgment. Why? Where is it met together? Where do we see the mercy and
truth of God? Somebody? Christ. That's right. At the
cross. At the cross. Where I first saw
the light. It was there by His grace I received
my sight. In Christ crucified we see the
truth of God. God is angry. God will by no
means clear the guilty. He laid on Christ sin. The soul
that sinned must surely die. Christ was made sin. His soul
was made an offering to sin. Right? That's what the scripture
says. And that's what Christ bore. And God killed Him. But,
God, just and justified. How can He have mercy on people
that don't deserve it? How? Christ crucified. Christ paid for it. So God is
just. He must. He must. Turn those people free for whom
Christ died. He must. He will. Mercy and truth
are met together. Look at verse 10. Righteousness
and peace have kissed each other. Righteousness, holiness, purity,
sinlessness. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness. People say God loves the sinner
and hates his sin. No, that's not what the Bible
says. That's not what God's Word says. God hated all workers of
iniquity. People! You can't separate what
I do from what I am. Can you? What I do is because
of what I am. Paul said, O wretched man that
I am, who shalt deliver me. Christ! How can God be righteous
and holy and just and yet have peace with me? Huh? Now, Isaiah 53 says it. The chastisement of our peace
was laid on Him. Christ made peace by the blood
of His promise. That's what it said. God who
should be angry with me is not. In fact, it's the love of God
that sent Christ to do this to people. Righteousness to people. I've
told you this, but I'll tell you again. There's a picture, Mindy put
a picture of Gabe and Hannah and Isabella, our first grandchild,
in her bathroom. It's one of my favorite, favorite,
favorite pictures. We have 4,333 pictures. This is probably my favorite.
All right, Isabella, the firstborn, well beloved. We all loved her
so much, still do. It's a picture of Her being held
by Gabe on one side, and Hannah on the both side, and Gabe and
Hannah are both kissing one cheek. Have that picture in our back
there. Gabe's here, kissing this cheek, and Hannah's kissing this
cheek. Isn't that a good illustration? The mercy of God, the truth of
God, the righteousness of God, the peace of God are meant to
get a kiss! They're kissing! Why? And who? The Beloved Christ. A kiss. You don't kiss somebody
you don't love, do you? You don't kiss an enemy, do you? You kiss a friend. You kiss a
loved one. Well, Christ is the well-beloved
Son of God and His people. Mercy loves Christ. Truth loves Christ. He is truth.
He's merciful. Righteousness. God is well pleased
for his righteousness sake. And peace. Oh, peace. Christ
is the prince of peace. It's all met together. All kissed. Love. The love of God, Romans
8 says, is in Jesus Christ. Like that ark. Everybody outside
of that ark perished. Everybody. Did God love them?
No, He did not. Was the wrath of God upon them?
Yes, it was. Did He destroy them all? He sure did. Did He destroy
anybody in Christ? Was there one person in Christ?
Was there one dog in there destroyed? Was there one cat? Was there
one skunk? You say, I'm a black sheep. Oh,
so you're a sheep. Are you a sheep? Was there one
sheep that perished? Christ said, not one of my sheep
perished. Not one. Why? Why? Why? In Christ. It's all met
together. kissed each other in Christ.
Verse 11, this is the gospel that comes out of the earth.
Verse 11, truth shall spring out of the earth. This place,
this world, this evil world full of lies, man comes forth from
the womb speaking lies, well truth will spring out of it.
What's that? That's Christ. He came, He's the way, the truth.
Christ as a root out of dry ground came to this earth. Look at verse
10, verse 11, and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
What's that? Christ! He's both. He's the one that ascended, Paul
said, Ephesians 4, and He descended. Who is the one that ascended?
But He that descended. He came from this earth, but that's not
where He began. He's a God of heaven. Isn't this
wonderful? You've got to look down. So now
David says, I know you have. I know you've shown mercy to
people. Remember Psalm 73? He said, Lord, I know you're
good to the righteous. I know you're favorable to your
people. Let me read it exactly what he
said. I love it. God, I know you're
good to such as are of a clean heart, but for me, I'm ready to halt. I'm ready
to slip. I'm so full of ignorance and
darkness. Will you, Lord? I know you have.
Will you? What does he say? He said, surely. Surely I will. Why, Patrick? Because Christ is our surety. He surely will because we have
a surety. Like Judah who said, if I don't
bring them back to you, you hold me accountable. Did he, Matt? Did Judah bring Benjamin back? He surely did. And our Lord said,
I give unto them eternal life. Who? Sinners, black sheep, all
of them. I give them eternal life. They'll
never perish. Not one soul has ever trusted Him to perish. Get
sick? Yeah. He said, you will. You must. Why? To wean us. To cause us to call on Him. We
never would. Give thanks for His mercy. They didn't do it
forever. We never would. Everything's
all hunky-dory. We just go on like the world.
And we'd say, well, I'm just lucky, or I did this. But God sends trouble. And God's people call on Him.
And they know He sent it. And they know they deserve a
whole lot worse. They do. But God. So, David says, and
I love whenever he says, What do you say when something
gives you joy? Yeah! Did you hear that? Yeah! It's like a cheer, isn't
it? Yeah! The Lord shall give that
which is good. Everything. It's all good. I
don't see it. How can this be good? How can this be good? Well,
just hang on. Wait. You'll see. You'll see
the good of the Lord. You will. That's what He said.
You'll see. Our land shall yield her increase. I don't know, but I think, I
hope, I expect that this building will be back full again sometime.
Well, it never was full, but at least it will yield her increase. Maybe, just maybe, the Lord will
use this for the salvation of one of our own. Wouldn't that
be wonderful? Would it be worth it? Listen to me now. The Lord said to His people,
I gave Egypt for your ransom. I gave Ethiopia and Seba for
you. You are precious in My sight. So maybe God will bring some
in. Verse 13, Righteousness shall
go before Him. That's Christ. He's ever before
us, before God's face. The blood before the Lord. Aren't
you glad? and shall set us in the way of
his steps." The previous message to the first ships was Ezekiel
14. Did any of you hear that? Where Ezekiel looked all around
and all he saw was a world, a religious world, an unbelieving world,
A way that seemed right to them, but it was ended in destruction.
But God said to Ezekiel, Ezekiel, I have a remnant, according to
the election of Graham, that I've chosen. I've put them in
the way. I've changed their ways, and
their doings, and their thoughts, and their heart, in chapter 36.
I've done all this for my name's sake. And now their way, what
is their way? Christ. What's their doing? They worship Christ. They trust Him. They look to
Him. They get together and they worship Him. They're not doing
it to be seen. They're doing it because they
really do love the Lord Jesus Christ. God has to do that. And He said He will. And I'm
going to set their feet to walk like the pilgrims of old. By
faith, looking unto the Lord Jesus, author and finisher of
our faith. And one of these days, like Enoch,
I'm going to bring him right out of his blood. He's going
to walk right in the garden. One of these days, he's going
to walk to the worship service, and he's going to walk right
on into heaven. Why? Christ. Alright, stand with me. Our Father in heaven, we're thankful
for past mercy. We ask your forgiveness for forgetting
past mercies. We're so much like Jacob, like
Israel of old, so very much. We forget, we forget the Lord,
always, over and over again. Oh Lord, our prayer is David's
prayer. Turn us, oh Lord, turn us again. Oh Lord, God of hope, cause thy
face to shine upon Christ's gospel of good news. Good news for your
people. Yay! Salvation for those in Christ,
taking us out of this plague. Whatever you sin, you sin it
for thy glory and honor and for your people's salvation. Surely
salvation is near unto those that fear it. Surely, surely,
surely. Let us surely believe this. It's
in Christ's name we've met here today. And give thanks. Amen. Jerry D. Smith. And for those
listening on Mixler, we'll broadcast again at 11 o'clock. Well, not for a while, I guess. About a month, I think. Well, the baby's buzzed. It's
over. I'll find out more. I'm glad
to be here. I don't believe that. It'll work
out. You hear that? I don't see a
show. We'll look back on this and see
how far we've come. Yeah, we'll look back. We'll get back right away. Of
course, you know, I've already seen a few of them. Yeah, right.
You look at all of them. That's right, all of them. Yeah. But I suppose that's where all
of them are going, you know, back to hometown. That'd be hard. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They get a surgery. I'm going to go to my lab with
my blood. I'm just going to go outside
a little bit. It's doing okay, but it's hard. I don't do that. I don't do that. No, it isn't. That's not right. Yeah. Yeah. private place.