You know, New Year's resolutions usually last until January 2nd. Don't they? We all make them. And, you know, good resolutions,
that is good intentions, good desires, are not bad. But the
problem is our flesh. Our Lord said it, the spirit
is willing, but the flesh is weak. And He said, without Me,
you can do nothing. You can't do anything you resolve
to do without Me. So our resolution should begin
this way, Lord, help me. Lord, by Thy grace, I want to
do this or not do this or that. Well, this is a prayer. This whole Psalm is a prayer. Look at verse 12. It's summed
up in this way. This is a summary of it all.
So, after all that he just said, all that we just read, teach
us. So teach us to number our days
that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. O Lord, teach us.
To number, I want to apply my heart, my all to wisdom and what that means. Our hearts, the heart is the
issue of life. This is a very old prayer, a
prayer of Moses. I think the next one is also
91, isn't it? It's 3,500 years old, somewhere
around there. That's old, isn't it? And you
and I have looked at it many times together. We probably should
look at it at least once a year. Because this is the one thing
needful. This is the one thing needful. Wisdom. When the Lord gave Solomon
the one wish, He said, ask anything and I'll give it to you. He asked
for one thing. Wisdom. And all that that means. We need wisdom. The Proverbs,
which is the book of wisdom, isn't it? The Proverbs begins
this way. The Proverbs of Solomon, son
of David, king of Israel, to know wisdom. That's how it begins. Written that we might have wisdom.
And in that same first chapter it says, the fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom. And in chapter 8, some of you
know, is the chapter on wisdom, isn't it? Wisdom cries. You know
who that is. Doth not wisdom cry? Oh, ye sons
of men. Oh, ye simple. Here, he says,
wisdom. What is wisdom? What is truth? Some of you know. Most do not. Not everyone in this room does.
Some do, thank God. Moses was a man of God, an old
man, a wise man, wasn't he? He knew God, didn't he? He knew
the Lord. He knew the Lord Jesus Christ.
He wrote of Him, didn't he? Well, he says, teach us. He's talking about himself. Moses,
don't you know the Lord? Oh, yes, but... Paul, don't you
know the Lord? Why do you say, oh, that I might
know Him? Because we know Him partly. And
I want to grow in grace, don't you, and the knowledge of the
Lord Jesus Christ. This is how we grow. This is
how He teaches it. Right here. This is how He teaches
it. All right? Verse 1, He says,
Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. From generation to generation,
thou hast been our dwelling place. Acts 17, Paul preached, in Him
we live and move and have our being. The fool hath said, no God. No
God. But God's people, He's given
them wisdom to know that God's not a part of our life. We didn't have life until He
revealed His Son in us. We're a part of His. In Him we
live and move and have our being. You know, the life of God in the soul of
a person is to make them conscious of God. Think on things above. See things
that are unseen. and to know things as they really
are. The unseen things are eternal, and the seen things are temporal.
Vanity. Vanity. Vanity. This is the life
of God. It's the opposite of the life
of the flesh. To live for the flesh. Never
look up. Never think of eternity. Never
give God a thought. The life of God in the soul of
man makes him live always conscious of God. It wasn't there before. It wasn't there before. In Psalm 91, it begins this way,
"...he that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High God."
Well, that's all of God's people. They dwell in Him. It's a secret
to most. The secret of the Lord is with
them that what? Fear Him. He will show them His
what? Covenant. What's that? Where is the secret place that
His people dwell? In Christ, the church in God,
the church in Him. Shall abide under the... Shall
abide. Didn't Christ say, if you abide
in Me and My words abide in you, you ask what you will. Shall abide under the shadow
of the Almighty. Christ said, I'll never leave
you or forsake you. Now every single human being
is in the hand of God. Every single human being is in
the hand of God. God, in whose hands our breath
is in all our ways. God says, all souls are mine.
But the proud he knoweth are of. But now His people, they're
right here. In His heart, in His love, in
His mind. Psalm 139. David said, if I go
here, if I go there, if I go anywhere, I'm still with you.
He said, this is wonderful. It's just too high for me. They
dwell under the shadow of the Almighty, God Almighty. Christ said, all power is given
unto me. He's the Almighty Lord Jesus
Christ. Look at what God's people say.
Psalm 91 verse 2. I will say of the Lord, He's
my refuge, He's my fortress, He's my God, in Him will I trust. And then he goes on to talk about
what all the Lord shall do and will do. No ifs, ands, or buts
about it. You're in Him. You dwell in Him.
If you belong to Him, you dwell in Him. And verse 4, He shall
cover thee with His feathers under His wings. Isn't that the
most wonderful thing you ever heard, Jeanette Barrett? Lord, thou hast been our dwelling
place. Didn't know it. God's people,
even when they were far off, even when they were prodigal
sons, the Father. If you were a prodigal, oh, how
you love that. If you still feel like a prodigal,
thou hast been our dwelling place. Before the mountains were brought
forth, verse 2, ever there formed the earth and the world from
everlasting to everlasting. Thou art God. Do you ever get
tired of hearing our God proclaimed? Our God is God. A foolish world
says no God. Foolish religion says you must
let Him be God. Let me tell you, brethren, Our
God really is God. Aren't you grateful? Aren't you
thankful? He's our God and we're His people
and the sheep of His pasture and nothing and no one can harm
us. Not one hair of our head will fall to the ground or of
our children or whoever unless He wills it. I don't need a God who doesn't
want things to happen, they happen anyway. I want a God, I need
a God who worketh all things according to the counsel of His
will, and all things are working together according to His infinite,
unchangeable, importable purpose. And it's ordered in all things,
and it's sure, and it's the sure mercy of the Son of David, of
the Lord Jesus Christ, His Son. And it's all, brother John, it's
good. Right? just and true, and one
day we're going to see it all the way He purposed it, and going
to shout hallelujah with all our hearts, saying, praise God. He's God. I need a God, don't you? Not
a figurehead. I need a God. And He is. And He let me know it. Verse
3, Thou turnest man to destruction, and sayest, Return, ye children
of men. It's destruction. Death is the
end of everything as we know it. Everything you are and have
and own and everyone and everything around you will be destroyed. The scripture says that. that
the earth and the works therein shall be burned up. Return, ye children of man, meaning
return to the dust from which we were made. The Lord said this
to the very first man and woman on earth. He said, Dust thou
art, and to dust thou shalt return. Psalm 146 verse 4 says, Man returneth
to his earth, his earth, what he was made of. That's what God
made him out of, and that's what he's going back to. And Job said,
it's certain. I came into this world with nothing,
and I'm going out of this world with nothing. Unless. In other words, you're going to
lose everything and everyone in this world, unless. You know the Lord. And they know
the Lord. Then you don't lose anything.
It's gain. It's all gain. Oh my, what shall
profit a man if he gain the world or lose his soul? Oh, but he
that loseth his life for my sake, findeth it. He that findeth his
life here, I'll lose it all. Destroy it. Thou turnest man
to destruction. Destruction. Everything is going
to be destroyed. Why? Because God is making a new heaven and
a new earth. A thousand years, verse 4. 4 through 6. Read these
verses. It says, A thousand years in
thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past. It's like a watch in the night.
Thou carryest them away, these years, as with a flood. Water. Water under the bridge,
we say. They're like asleep. In other words, you go to sleep
and you wake up, all of a sudden you wake up. Like where'd that
go? It's like grass that groweth
up in the morning, that flourishes and groweth up in the evening,
it's cut down and withereth. That's our life. He said a thousand
years in his sight. That's what Peter said. Don't
be ignorant of this, brethren. You know, we're such creatures
of time, aren't we? Creatures of time. And like the verse in Ecclesiastes
talks about man who says, sentence or judgment against an evil work
is not speedily executed. In other words, people do evil
and lightning doesn't follow. So it's fully set in the hearts
of the sons of men to do evil. 2 Peter 3, it says, where is
the promise of His coming? Everything continues like it
always has. That's when Peter said, don't be ignorant of this
one thing. A day is a thousand years. He's not on our time schedule. Time is nothing to Him. A thousand
years, like a day. We're creatures of time. God's not on our time. And time
is nothing to Him. Nothing. But time, you know,
the older you get, the faster it goes, doesn't it? The older
you get, the years seem like months. The months seem like
weeks. The weeks seem like days. Until
finally, years seem like days. And this is what He tells us
to do, to think of years like days. days in comparison to how
long people used to live before the flood. They used to live
800, 900 years. He says here now we live 70 maybe,
maybe 80. Think of that compared to 800.
It's nothing. It's like that. It's a vapor. You know, there's
some excuse for young people to be foolish. It's not wise,
but there's some excuse for young people to be foolish and not
think on eternity or death. It seems so far off, doesn't
it? Old age and death seem so far
off. I'm too young to die. Well, I'm
here to tell you, and some in here will tell you with great
sorrow, the young die too, don't they? They sure do. But if they know Christ, it's
all right. In fact, it's a good thing. But
young people say this, I'm only 30 years old. Well, I've got
30, 40 years left. You remember thinking that way,
sister? I'm only 30. Now, oh, you wake up and you're
80. Right? I mean, you just wake
up. It's like you went to sleep.
Where did it go? Is this a dream? Ron? You feel like you ought to be
18, shouldn't you? In fact, you still think the same thoughts
you had when you were 18. Right? Much to your shame. My old dad was sitting in the chair
at Christmas time, to chair, and you know how feeble he is
now. He ought to be. He's 92. Hannah's sitting there. She's 30. Dad's 92. Hannah's 34, and I'm 63. It's 30 years between each of
us. And I looked at Hannah, and I
said, Hannah, I said, that's me tomorrow. That's me and I'm you. I'm telling you, it's tomorrow.
You can't believe it, but it is. So, teach us to number our days. We just have days. What are we
going to do with these days? We've got a few days. I hate,
I hate, hate, hate this talk about a bucket list. I hate it. It's presumption,
it's pride, it's a man shaking his fist in God's face, I'm going
to get everything in before I die. Yeah. Then what? If you just got a few days, what
are you going to do? If you just got a few days, then
you're going to meet God. What are you going to do? Ride
a bull? Huh? Isn't that foolish? Shouldn't you set your heart
on things above? Shouldn't you say, Lord, open
my eyes that I might behold Thee and not vanity? Turn away my
eyes from vanity? Just got a few days left. I hate to admit it, though, but
I'm just as foolish as anybody when my affection and my thoughts
are on things below, on things here, and not on things above,
when I might have just a few days. I hate that. I hate it. The Lord knows our
frame. Aren't you glad He knows our frame? The key words throughout this
psalm, the first word, Lord, That's a key word in it. He is
Lord. There is a Lord. Aren't you glad?
He's our Lord. Aren't you glad? He's our God.
Anger, verse 7. Read verses 7 through 9. We're
consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.
Thou hast set our iniquities before thee. That's a key word.
Secret sin. No, they're in the light of His
countenance. He sees it. He hears it. All our days are
passed away in thy wrath. Lord, God, days, destruction,
return, wrath, anger, wisdom, His work, thy work. Key words,
aren't they? There's a word conspicuously
missing throughout this song. What is it? Love. Do you find it then? Oh, hold
on. I find it everywhere. You see, it's love to warn those,
to chasten, to rebuke. It's love. I don't rebuke and
correct and instruct and put the rod on children Don't know. You don't either do. But those
you love, you warn them, you approve them, you rebuke them,
you correct them, you chase them, you warn them. If you love them,
you warn them. You remember the article by Brother
J.C. Ryle in last Sunday's bulletin? Do you read it? It's a wonderful
article on repentance. The Lord Jesus Christ said to
his disciples, except you repent. You'll perish. He's a disciple. They don't need repentance, they
already repented. Oh, no, hold on now. Repentance means to be turned,
turned from. Well, anger, wrath, judgment,
destruction. Preacher, let's not talk about
that. Do you know how many preach the
Word? This is His Word. Key words that few people understand,
few people know. You see, you don't tell rebels,
God loves you. You don't tell a God-hating,
God-ignoring world, God loves you. You don't tell rebels that
because they'll go on in their rebellion. Love casts out fear. God loves
me, and I don't have anything to worry about. And when it's
all over, I'll get serious at the end, and then I'll get right
with God. I'll weigh that. No, no, no. You tell them, repent. That's what you tell. You tell
them, turn. You tell them, call. You tell them, seek. I remember
a message my pastor preached years ago, and he said, what
can a sinner do? What can a sinner do? This is
it. Repent. Call. Ask. Seek. That's what a sinner can
do. And I'll tell you what the Lord
will do for everyone that does. He'll say, I love you. I sent my son to die
for you. That's how you know. But not
for unrepentant. Those that don't fear Him. Those
that don't call. The Lord is merciful. to those
that desire mercy. The Lord is gracious, very gracious
to those that need grace. Do you need grace? How much?
All grace? Like my granddaughter, she loved
to eat and one time she said, I want too much. Her mother used
to say, don't get too much. And finally, she said, I want
too much. Well, I need a lot of grace.
I need too much. I need it all. He delights to
give, but only to those that need it. Only to those that need it. Moses
and God's people see clearly, verse 7, that we are consumed
by His anger and His wrath, we are troubled. Do you know what
he's saying? Verse 11, according to the power
of His anger, that's where you get fear. And so is thy wrath. Do you understand what they're
saying? Romans 1 talks about a world of people that don't
give God a thought, even religion, who when they see the power of
God, don't thank Him and they make up all that sort of thing,
change the truth of God into a lie and worship and serve the
creature rather than the Creator, man, Mother Earth and all of
that. and not God, professing themselves
wise, they become fools, but it begins by saying the wrath
of God is revealed from heaven. That's where it begins. The wrath
of God that's revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and all
unrighteousness, against men and women who hold the truth
in unrighteousness. We see it, don't we? We see it
clearly. God's people see it clearly.
That this whole world is not under the love of God, but under
the wrath of God. Right? See it clearly. Like Egypt
of old. Do you remember? Egypt of old,
the Lord sent nine plagues on them. Severe plagues. It wiped
out everything at that time. My wife and I were talking about
this. Don't think of those plagues
as coming like every day. That could have taken place over
many years. In fact, I believe it did because
you forget about something after some years go by, don't you?
And then another one came. Well, the Egyptians, none of
them saw it as being the wrath of God. Was it? Oh, yeah. Against Egypt. And all the things
that happened in this world, I've been looking at some videos
of these tsunamis. Have you ever watched that? A wave, a giant wave just absolutely
tossed cars and buildings around like little toys. Have you seen
that? It's frightening, isn't it? Well, God said, in Isaiah,
I believe it is, He said, Shall you not fear Me who puts the
sand as a boundary for the sea? Shouldn't you fear me who tells
the water, here the two shall you come and no further? Shouldn't
man fear God? Look, that's a raging powerful
ocean that God controlled. And here it comes, every day
it just comes in, comes out. Comes in, comes out. And all
of a sudden one day, wipes it all out. You hear people calling
on God? You hear people calling on God?
Lord, be merciful to us. We've sinned against You. We've
not given You a thought. We've not been thankful. We haven't
worshipped You. We haven't cared that Your Son died. We haven't
cared. Lord, have mercy. Forgive us all, Lord. No. Do you see those things as
being from the hand of God? Clearly. We know that. That's who He's talking about
here. Talking to. We know. All our days have passed
away in wrath. We spend our years... We spend our years as a tail
that is told. We see that it's like a vapor. And a tail that is told. Psalm
103. Don't you love Psalm 103? I love
it. Love it, love it, love it. My
favorite psalm. But it says in that psalm, one
day, the wind will pass over. Let me quote
it exactly. The place where we are, man is
like grass, the flower of the field, he flourishes and then
one day the wind passeth over it and it's gone and the place
thereof shall know it no more. He'll never know it existed.
One day I was coming home and a car ran over a squirrel in
the middle of the road. And I felt sorry for the squirrel,
I really did. Poor squirrel. Well, the next day I came by
and there it was. I mean, it was. And then the next day, you
know, about two weeks later, you'd never know it was there.
There was not even a blob on the road. That's it. A few will remember you, most
won't. John Sheasley. You remember John Sheasley? His
brethren, his family who loved him, they will remember him.
Nobody else will. That's all that was said. That's all of
it. A tale that's told. Seventy or eighty years, verse
ten, our days are three score and ten, or by reason of God-given
strength. It's not because you don't eat
certain things or do eat certain things. I think it's funny sometimes,
you ask these people who are a hundred and some years old,
What's the key to your longevity? And one of them said, I drink
a shot of whiskey every day. Well, that's not it. Another
fellow said, liquors never touch my lips. Well, that's not it. It's God. The days of our years,
our numbers are set with the Lord. Right? Not healthy eating. It's grace. Oh, so preacher, you're telling
us just to live like we want. I'm not saying that at all. The
quality of your life can be greatly, physically, can be greatly improved
by better eating and all that. I'm not here to expound these,
espouse these things, but you better not trust in them. You
better not trust in them or God will kill you by that very thing
you trust in. That's a fact. It's the Lord. Well, in all these years, 70
or 80 years, 70 years seems like a long time to Emma. Does 70 seem old to you? His
old. I ain't 70 yet. Ron is. Amy almost is. You know, I kid
with you. Ladies especially. I don't know
why ladies are so sensitive. They're a hitch. What's wrong
with you? Because they're vain. That's why. That's why. Vain. Stop being so vain. You know
what we should be? Think of these every year, it
goes by the older we get. Mercy! It's of the Lord's mercies
that I've lived this long. Every day is a day of mercy and
grace. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. All these years. Mercy. We met a lady 104 years old the
other day, didn't we? 105, right now. And she was so
happy, she didn't know the Lord, I don't think. And yet she was
so upbeat and positive. She wouldn't be moaning and talking
about how old she was. She was saying she was happy.
Man, anybody ought to be happy and glad. Well, look at it. Now
in verse Verse 15, make us glad. Verse 14, satisfy us early with
thy mercy that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. God's
people should think of, as they get older, especially when they
get older, look at all the mercy the Lord has shown me. Look how
gracious the Lord has been to me. Let me live this long, my,
my. But now verse 10 says there's
strength, labor, and sorrow. In other words, you start out
real strong, virile, robust, have plenty of strength. Don't
you wish, some of you older fellows, don't you wish you had the strength
now that you did? Don't you wish you had the wisdom
now, then, that you do now, and the strength now that you did
then? Don't you? But you don't. Somebody
will say, you know, it's too old, too soon, too late, smart. Strength, and then it's all full
of hard labor. That's what God said, didn't
it? Sweat of your brow. Sorrow. Childbirth, raising children,
losing children, grandchildren, on and on it goes. And then you
cut off. It's over. I don't want him to
go. Are you ever ready for him to
go? Huh? You don't want him to go.
He thinks he's a burden to us. Oh, no. He's a testimony. An example. A tribute to God's
grace. And I'm not ready for him to
go. He's going to go. We're going to go. We're all
going to go. All right. Very soon, cut off and fly away. We're going to put his body in
the ground. Might be one of us first. My wife's mother got cancer
at 52 years old. Liver cancer. They said, you
got six months to live. Well, she lived two years. She
got cancer. Dear, sweet, lovely, Christ-like
woman, knew the Lord. We loved her dearly, didn't we? And they said, you've got six
months to live. Oh, man. Do you know that in the church,
seven people died before she did? We were all waiting on Joyce
to die, and seven people, unexpectedly, flew away. Where are they? Where'd they go? Where did they
go? Isn't that all that matters? Because everything else is forgotten. Where are they? It's appointed
unto man once to die. After that. I remember him preaching. Boy, the messages he used to
preach that I took for granted, I remember them now. He preached
the message called, After that. Then what? Nothing else matters. But after
that, the judgment. The judgment. We shall all stand
before the judgment seat of God, throne of God. How do you stand? How will you stand? Here's wisdom. Apply your heart to wisdom. Your
heart, if you think it in your head, That's not salvation. Your heart, this must be in your
heart with the heart man believing. How are you going to stand? Where
do you stand now? Your blessed husband said, I
stand on the rock, didn't he? I'm telling you right now, that's
where he's standing now, Brother Stephen. He flew away. Where
to? Into the arms of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Isn't that wonderful? I want to be where He is. I want
to be with Him. I'd like to be with Him right
now, wouldn't you? Here's the difference. Here's the test.
Here's the acid test between those that really know the Lord
and those that don't. David said, one thing have I desired, and
that's what I'm going after. that I may dwell in the house
of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of
the Lord. He must love him. Why does he
love him? Because the Lord first loved
him. Teach us. Number our days. Apply our hearts to wisdom. What
can that mean more than to know Christ? He is wisdom. He is wisdom. Oh my. Look at verse 13. Return, O Lord. Return. How long? David says that a lot, doesn't
he, in his psalms. How long? How long? How long? Psalm 13, how long? The howling
psalm. How long? God's people whom He's
taken out of this world, who want to go and be with the Lord,
whose desire is to be with the Lord, which is far better, And
they say, return, O Lord. Come quickly, O Lord. But for
the sake of those around them that they love and don't know
the Lord, they say, just tarry a little until they know you. But we say, how long must we
be in this veil of tears? Must we live in this valley of
the shadow of death, in this place of trouble, be sent in
a sinful place, like Lot and Sodom. Lord, how long would you
come get me? And, in light of our sins, in
light of our being prone to wander, and we do, in light of our sins,
we say, we feel like the Lord has left us at times. We feel
like the Lord has forsaken us at times. He's a God that hides
Himself. He's a God that hides His face.
He's a God that frowns upon His children. Yes, He does. And we feel His anger. We do. We feel His wrath. God's people
do. Only God's people do. And they say, Lord, don't take
Your Holy Spirit from me. Return, O Holy Ghost. Isn't that what William Kepler,
isn't that what he wrote? Return, O Holy Ghost, return. I hate the sins that drove you
from me. Moses? Moses, are you saying
that? Yes. Moses was angry with himself
for being angry with the people. And on and on it went. He was
just a man like us. Oh Lord, let it repent thee concerning
thy servants. In other words, return from thine
anger. Oh, satisfy us, verse 14, early
with thy mercy. It's good for a young man to
bear the yoke in his youth, isn't it? You know, the Lord mercifully
revealed Himself to me when I was around maybe 23 years old or
something like that. I don't remember exactly when
it was. I can't pinpoint the day or the hour or anything,
and very few people, God's people, can. I remember a time when He
was clearly working on me. I remember it clearly. I remember
the Scriptures and verses, the messages. I went to hear Him
preach. Here's how the Lord works. I
mean, I was a member of the 13th Street for two or three years,
attended. And I heard message after message
by my pastor, but I didn't hear a thing. Well, he went to preach
a message in Danville at the conference there, and I went.
I heard. I remember like it was yesterday.
The air stuck in my heart. That's how the Lord works. Where am I? Satisfies early. Relatively young. But I wish,
I wish he'd revealed himself to me when I was 12. And you
know what I'm talking about. Because I ran wild. I ran wild
and it was only the mercy of God that kept me from destroying
myself. God be merciful. We pray that,
and it's our heart's desire, isn't it? Right now, young people,
right now, call on the Lord. Are you listening to me? You
can't say, when I get older, I'll get serious. You might not
live tomorrow. Teach us, young and old. Oh well, another sermon. Oh, man. Satisfy us early that we may
rejoice and be glad all our days. You see, you've got all these
days of just labor and sorrow, and it's all over, you lose everything. You begin early. If the yoke
is put on you at early age, when you know the Lord early on, and
your affection is set on things above, you can't lose anything. Come what may, it's all good.
Nothing to worry about. Look at verse 15, I love that. Make us glad according to the
days wherein thou hast afflicted us, the years wherein we have
seen evil. What do you mean, Moses? What
are you talking about? Well, it's good, David said,
that I've been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. Before
I was afflicted, I went astray. See, whom the Lord loveth, he
chastened it. whom the Lord has taken out of
this world, He's taken the world out of them. He's given them
a love for Him and a hatred for this world, and a hatred for
sin. You see, and here's the thing
I was just trying to say, that Moses said, satisfies early. In other words, if God allows
you to live in this world of sin too long, then it has a hold
on you It almost will never let go until the day you die. But
early, your affection set on things above. There are no evil
days ahead. Your affection, your mind, your
heart is set right and you're pursuing the things of God. Oh,
it's good for a young person to bear the yoke in their youth
before the evil days come. And then you say, I have no pleasure
in that. But God, in His mercy, in His
grace, in His love to His people, He sends affliction. Here's love. Here's love in this song. Affliction. God sent you affliction
because He loves you. I don't understand preachers.
God's people did. Job did. They did. And God finally opened his eyes,
Job said, now I see. Now I see. Because all of this
is perishing. Perishing things of
clay, born but for one brief day, passed from my heart away. Oh Lord Jesus, be mine. My portion. There are people
who all they have is this life. This is their portion. And then
there's God's people and He is their push. Make us glad. Make us glad. Let thy work, verse 16, thy work
appear unto thy servants. What is that work? Well, it is
the work of creation. That's clear. Do you not glorify
God? Sister, do you not glorify God
when you see that sun coming up, you see the beautiful sky
and the trees and all things, snow? Do you not enter into the
treasures of snow, the rain when it rains and rains and rains,
even when it rains too much? Don't you glorify God and think
of the flood? Think of God's mercy to us, God's
covenant? See the bow? Do you not see those
things? Why? Flesh and blood didn't reveal
it to you. Man doesn't believe that. No, we do. But his work,
his principal work, his greatest work is what? Salvation. Salvation. He's going to destroy
his creation. God doesn't destroy something
that's his greatest work. His greatest work is salvation.
Oh, let thy work, whose work is salvation? It's of the Lord. He belongeth unto the Lord, and
it's for His glory. Let thy work. You see, when all
of this is destroyed, God's people are going to see what it's all
about. What everything was all about was this great work of
redemption that God did, that Christ accomplished. That's what
they're all going to be saying throughout eternity. Look what
He did! Unto Him be all honor and power
and glory and riches and strength and all that. Unto Him that loved
us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. This is the
work. Let your work appear unto me and my children, our children. Show them Christ crucified. Show
them this great work of redemption. Do this work in their heart.
Isn't that our heart's desire? There's nothing else needful. Food and arraignment is all you
need. I didn't say that. Jesus Christ
did. His name is Wisdom. But we get
so upset, we have our affection set, we go after this, we go
after that, and it causes us nothing but what? Trouble. Great riches and trouble there. I'm guilty. Oh Lord, turn away
my eyes from beholding vanity. Let me see thy work, thy glory. The older you get, the less glory
you see in this world. It's all losing its shine, its
lustre, its beauty, its fool's gold is what it is. Bull's gold. There's nothing here. The streets
in heaven are going to be paved with gold. We're not even going
to pay attention to it. That's how changed we're going
to be. We're going to see Him, the Great
Pearl, and be totally enwrapped with Him. Let Thy glory appear
upon their children. Here's glory. Not to be rich
and famous. Let's be poor in spirit and be
known by God. Let the beauty, verse 17, of
the Lord our God be upon us. The righteousness of Christ be
upon us. Us! Us! He's praying for us. And establish now the work of
our hand. Whatever we do, Lord, may it
be for Thy glory. work of our hands established
out yet. Turn away my eyes from beholding
vanity, my feet from being swift to run to mischief, my hands
from serving myself. Lord, make me a new creature
in Christ for Thy glory. Isn't that a good
prayer? Good prayer. So teach us. So,
He's going to have to teach us. Number your day. You don't have
much time. Redeem the time. And apply your hearts to Christ
and know Him. Okay. Let's sing in closing what
happened. 389. 389. 389. Let's all stand
everyone. 389. We'll sing the first, second, and third.