Thank you, Sherry and Ron. 2 Samuel 23. Go there with 2
Samuel chapter 23. While I draw this fleeting breath,
and mine eyes shall close in death, Rock of ages, cleft for
me. The title of this message is,
Let These Be My Dying Words. These are David's dying words,
and he said, God is my rock. That's what your dad said. Standing
on the rock. Let that be my dying word. In 2 Samuel 23, read with me
the first five verses. Now, these be the
last words of David. David, the son of Jesse, said,
son who was raised up on high, The anointed of the God of Jacob,
the sweet psalmist of Israel, said, The Spirit of the Lord
spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel
said, The Rock of Israel spake to me. He that ruleth over men
must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be as the
light of the morning, when the sun riseth. Even a morning without
clouds has a tender grass springing out of the earth, a clear shining
after rain. Although my house be not so with
God, yet He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things, and sure. And for this is all my salvation
and all my desire. Although, they make it not to
grow. We just read about that covenant.
These are the last words of David. The Lord told him, he knew that
these were his dying days. The words of a man, of a woman,
in days of prosperity or good times, days when everything is
going well, the words of that man or woman may not mean too
much. But a dying person's words, their
last testimony, they are about to go out and face God, face
eternity. Now let's hear what he has to
say. That makes it very special, doesn't it? Very meaningful. And we ought to be wise and consider
our latter end. Moses said that, wrote that.
God wrote it. Oh, that they were wise and would
consider their latter end. We ought to think more often
of our death. We ought to think about it, prepare
for it. But, you know, not knowing if
we're going to die tomorrow or the next day, most of us don't
believe we are. Right? If you're honest, you
will admit that you don't think you are going to die tomorrow
or today for that matter. And we might pin down some words
right now some dying words, but it wouldn't really mean anything.
But now, laying on the deathbed, as we've seen some, now what
have you got to say? What's your hope of returned
life? You're about to go face God.
Tell me why you think you'll be with God. Tell me now how
you hope to be with God someday. It needs to be absolute certainty
in your mind, your hope of eternal life. What is it? And David told us all his salvation. David is speaking here from experience. David is speaking under inspiration. David is inspired by the Holy
Spirit of God to write these words concerning Christ. But
David speaks first from experience. He said in verse 1, I'm the son
of Jesse. David was just a man. When you
think of David, you may think of somebody that's special, don't
you? You think David's a great man like Abraham and Isaac and
Elijah and all that. No, David's just the son of Jesse. He's just the son of Jesse. He'll
tell you. That's what God told him, didn't
it? I took you, you were a nobody from nowhere. Not some great
family, but Jesse. Who's Jesse? Nobody even knew
Jesse until the day the Lord called David. Son of Jesse. Just a man. Just a son. Somebody's son. Just somebody's
grandson. Somebody's father. Somebody's
grandfather. Just a man. Just a man. You know, I am too. You are too.
You are too. In fact, my great-great-grandfather's
named Jesse. David said, I'm a man, a son
of Jesse, but I'm the man, David said, God raised up on high.
God did this. David knew this. God did. He raised me on high. I am the
object of God's great mercy, love, and grace. He took me from
following sheep, and now look at me. David never lost sight
of that. And people, you're looking at
a beggar taken from the dunghill and set among princes. I too,
son of Jesse, am a man that God has raised up. Raised from darkness
to light, from death to life. No less than Lazarus. How about
you? Are these your words? Raised up on high. You hath he
quickened who were dead. David says, I'm the anointed
of the God of Jacob. The anointed. A king. He was
a prophet. He was a king. He was the Lord's
anointed or called King. But David said, God did this. By the grace of God, I am what
I am. He never lost sight of this. He always gave God all the glory
of everything He was, everything He had, everything He knew. God made me His King. You know, Scripture says of God's
people, they're kings and priests. I don't reckon David really ever
thought of himself as a king. I don't reckon he ever got over
being just a shepherd boy. Or like Jacob, you know. If you'd
asked Jacob his name, he wouldn't tell you Israel. He'd say Jacob. Well, when Pharaoh asked him
his name, what'd he say? Jacob. You know, David, I think David
probably never got over the day when the Lord called him and
anointed Israel. I know he probably looked back
that time when he was living at home with his dad, Jesse,
and whoever his mother was. And he was there at home with
seven other brothers. And he's out in the field. And
he came home one day and Samuel the prophet was there. And David
overheard this man telling his father and mother and the brothers
talking, he was in there preaching to them. Samuel was in there
preaching to his family and David came in from the field and Samuel
got up and walked over and put his hand on David's head and
said, son, God's calling you. God's chosen you, son. David never got over that. And
neither have I. Do you remember when you first
heard the Gospel? I hope you've never gotten over it. Me? What do you reckon David
said that day? Me? No. Surely not. Yes, David. The King? Look at me. It's you. Remember when you heard
the Gospel for the first time, huh? About God's mercy and love
and grace to an undeserving, hell-deserving sinner. Did you
not think? You see, this is all my salvation,
folks. All my salvation is God called
me, not me calling on Him. God chose me, not me choosing
Him. David's out in the field following
sheep. And God said, Come. And he came in and said a preacher
laid his hands on him and said, You're mine. You're going to
be mine from now on, no matter what. You're mine. Whoo! Stephen,
he never got over that. David, he said, the sweet psalmist
of Israel, verse 1, the sweet psalmist of Israel, David and
his words were sweet. Are they sweet to you? Are these
words thus far sweet to you? David, when he read God's Word,
he said, Thy Word was sweet to me, sweeter than honey. What I'm doing this morning is is preaching of this covenant,
and I want you to examine your own heart, see if you can say
with David, this is my salvation. This is my heart. This is my
desire. This is my, if I were dying today, this is what I believe.
And this is how you may know, like David, that God's made this
covenant with you, that the sheer mercies of David are in you.
David said, your word was sweet to me. Sweet to me, the Psalms, aren't
they sweet to you? I heard a man one time say this,
a father of one of our ladies, her father, and he was an intelligent,
educated man of great attainments, rich. And he said to her one
day, to her grief, he said to her, I've read through the Psalms
and I find them boring. And she said in her heart, oh,
my house is not so with God, but the Psalms sure are sweet
to me. Why? Who maketh it? Spurgeon used to say this. Spurgeon
said this. He said, here's a great evidence
that you can know that you're one of God's choice, that you're
God's anointed. is that God's Word and God's
Gospel is sweet to you. You have a hunger for it, a thirst
for it. You never tire of hearing it.
Spurgeon said, I never tire of hearing the Gospel. You know,
he was a preacher of it. And he said, this is one evidence
that you can know of God's saving grace in your heart that God's
Gospel, you never get tired of it. You know, that's not so with
everybody in this room. What about you? David is writing under inspiration
of the Holy Spirit. He said in verse 2, the Spirit
of the Lord spake by me. His Word was in my tongue. When David wrote psalms like
Psalm 22, that's the psalm of the cross, I don't think he fully
understood what he was writing. I'm certain of it. The previous
chapter here, chapter 22 of 2 Samuel is Psalm 18. I'm not sure he
had fully understood. In fact, Peter says that they
did not. It was revealed by us, the church. When Isaiah wrote chapter 53,
do you reckon he fully understood what he was writing? No. God
spoke through him. David is saying here, what I'm
saying to you is just not my word. This is the Word of God.
Like Simon Peter said, we're not following some cunningly
devised fable when we made known unto you the power and the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ. We were eyewitnesses of His majesty. And he said, in fact, no word,
no prophecy of scriptures of any private or personal interpretation
that holy men spake as they were moved of God. What did they speak
of? What did all the prophets speak of? Whom did they testify
of? The Lord Jesus Christ. David
wrote of me, our Lord Jesus Christ said. This is all about the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now listen, this is how we know,
collectively, people, this is how we know that God hath made
a covenant with us, concerning us, that God hath put Christ
in us. revealed Christ in us, not to
us, but in us. This is how we know. He takes
the things of Christ and shows them unto us. He takes the Old
Testament types and reveals Christ to us, through and through. We
see these types. Many of you were in religion,
weren't you? Methodists, Southern Baptists,
whatever, Catholic, and you came and you heard the truth, whether
it be here or somewhere, the truth was preached as it is in
Christ. And you heard those old types
like you never heard them before. Before, it was all about man's
faith, Noah's faith, Abraham's faith, wasn't it? Huh? But then
you heard, no, this is Christ. And this is how you know that
God hath revealed these things unto you by His Spirit. He's
taken the things of Christ. This is how you know the Spirit
of God dwells with you and in you. This is how we know we're
a church. This is how we know we're a church. that the covenant
is with us. What's the covenant? With Israel? No. With Christ. See, what I'm saying here is
that all of what David was saying speaks of Christ. Look at it again. The last words
of David. You know the last words God has
to say to mankind? What's the last word, God? What's
the only thing God said out loud? This is my beloved Son in whom
I'm well pleased. Hear Him. Look to Him. Believe
Him. Trust Him. Come to Him. Cast yourself on
Him. He's in. This is the Son of Jesse. This is the Son of David declared
to be the Son of God. The Son of David, the King. It's
the last words of God. The Son of Jesse, Christ, the
Son of Man. The man raised up on high. Who's
David writing about? Himself or another? One higher
than him. Raised up on high. Oh, my. Jesus
Christ is high above all principalities and powers and rulers of this
world. Oh my. Read on. The anointed
of the God of Jacob. That word anointed means Christ. The word anointed means Christ. David wrote of Christ. The anointed. The Messiah. The Savior. of men, the prophet, priest,
king, the way, the truth, and the life, the anointed, the anointed. There's only one. Only one. Of the God of Jacob. This is
my Son. This is my Great High Priest. This is the Lamb of God that
taketh away the sin of the world. Hear ye Him. Read on. He's the sweet psalmist
of Israel. The sweet psalmist of Israel. Who's writing these
psalms? David? Christ. Right. You know, Solomon, if
you'll read Proverbs, if you know the psalms, if you know
the psalms, you'll read in the Proverbs what Solomon learned
from his dad. All the way through there. He's
really not saying anything new. You read his dad's writing. Solomon
got it from David. Where did David get it from?
His Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is wisdom. Sweet psalmist
of Israel, oh my, the Lord Jesus Christ. All the psalms are about
Him, you know that? All of them are by Him. They're
by Him and for Him. He's the composer of the words. He's the composer of the music.
He's the object of the music and the composition. to Him, give all the prophets
witness. When Christ came one day preaching, it was the sweetest
thing that those two disciples on the road to Emmaus had ever
heard in their lives. The sweetest preaching. No man
spake like this man. And when he preached, oh, they
said, did not our hearts... And he preached from the Psalms
and the prophets and the books of Moses concerning himself.
And those two fellows said, oh, that's so sweet. Sweet words
from the sweet psalmist of Israel. The Spirit of the Lord spake
by him. Our Lord said, and His Word was in my tongue. Our Lord
said, the words that I speak, I speak not of myself, but the
Father that dwelleth in me. In fact, His Word, not only in
His tongue, He is the Word. He is the Word. Read on. It says,
ìThe God of Israel,î say it, ìthe Rock of Israel, spake to
me. He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of
God.î It said, ìThe God of Israel.î Who is that? Well, call His name,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Call His name, wonderful Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father. Jesus Christ is our God. Do you believe that? Everybody
doesn't. All God's people know. And we
know. We know. And are sure. The God
of Israel. The Rock of Israel. Speak to
me. You know what that rock is. Go
back to chapter 22. And if I have to tell you, you
must not know. Because if you don't know, I'm
going to tell you. Chapter 22. Do you know how often David spoke
of this rock? just like Moses did, like all
of his people do. Verse 2, chapter 22, verses 2
and 3, the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
the God of my rock. In Him will I trust. He's my
shield, my horn of salvation, my high tower, my refuge, my
Savior. Verse 32, who is God? Save the Lord. And who is a rock?
Save our God. Verse 47, The Lord liveth and blessed be
my rock, exalted to be the God of the rock of my salvation. Do you know what that rock is?
Do you know what he's speaking of? Do you understand? When somebody
asks you, all your hope built on, what would you say? My hope
is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest prayer, but wholly lean on the
Lord Jesus Christ's name. On Christ, the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. He's my rock. He's my rock. And I rock. You knew I was going
to say it. They rock, not like I rock. Their rock rolls with them. Our rock is unmovable, unchangeable. Our rock, don't you love that?
He's a rock. He's the rock Moses stood on when God said, there's
a place by me. And you're going to stand on
that rock. He's the rock that Moses stood in. He stood on and
stood in. He said, I'm going to put you
in the cliff of the rock, and when I pass by, you're going
to see my glory. Rock of ages, plethora. He that
ruleth, verse 3, he that ruleth over men, the rock that ruleth,
the God of heaven and earth, he ruleth over men. The Lord
Jesus Christ ruleth over all men, over all principalities
and powers. He has all authority in heaven
and in earth. He has all power, all reign,
all rule, all control in heaven, earth, and hell. And here's what
David's saying, he's my ruler and I'm sure glad about it. I'd
love to have it so. And David under inspiration says
in verse 4, he shall be, read this, this is sweet, he'll be
as the light of the morning when the sun rises, even a morning
without clouds. When the tender grass springs
out of the earth after a shining rain, is there ever a clearer
day? Is the sun ever more vivid and
bright and glorious as on a day, springtime, early summer, when
it's just rained? You know, Scripture says He'll
come down like rain on them all. And the sun is coming up, and
the air is so pure, and it's just the clearest, bright, and
not a cloud in the sky, royal blue. It's all clear, isn't it? I can see clearly now. The rain
is gone. The clouds are gone. David, talking
about seeing Christ, the vision, like Daniel. David, the sweet
psalmist, I believe he wrote most of his psalms in times of
sorrow. You know it's so. That's why
you get such peace from them. And he probably wrote this, listen,
he probably wrote this after a night spent in great sorrow,
a sleepless night. He wrote another psalm that says,
My soul waiteth for thee more than they that watch for the
morning. Psalm 130. See, He brought my soul up out
of a horrible pit. If you should mark iniquity,
who shall stand? As forgiveness would be that thou must be feared.
He said, Oh, my soul waiteth for thee. Oh, Lord, come to me. A long night in darkness and
despair, sadness and sorrow. A sleepless night. Maybe a night
he watered his couch, his bed with his tears. Anybody been
there? A night of worry. He's going
to talk about his house. His house wasn't so with God. And he spent a long night worrying
about afraid for his children, his grandchildren, his friends,
his brothers, the kingdom of which he was a ruler over, and
everything wasn't just right. He had children he lost. Children
that were gone, no hope for them. Children that were at the time
lost, He worried over his children,
his grandchildren, their troubles and sins and sorrows. About his
own, he lost sleep over. And brethren, every safe center
does this. You lose sleep over your own
sins, past, present. You lie in bed and you commune
with your heart and you think about your past sins. You have deep guilt and regrets
about things you cannot do anything about. And you spend the night
on your bed with tears. And he rose early. He rose before
the sun came up. Like our Lord, who was a man
of sorrows acquainted with grief, rose a great while before day.
And David rose early before the sun came up, and he was probably
sitting in his chair in his house, and I know what he was doing.
He's praying. Maybe he has his window open
like Daniel did. Maybe he's on his knees. Probably
on his knees. What is David praying? I know
what you pray. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. God, be merciful to my children.
God, have mercy. God, save us all. God, help Brother
So-and-so. God, please, we need unity. Lord,
please, keep us from the evil one. Oh, Lord. Let the blood be propitiation
on the mercy seat. And as he's praying, perhaps
he got up and sat in his chair and lit a candle, and so he got
out the Word of God. He's a man. He's a sinner, just
like you and me. David said, your Word was sweet
to me. Oh, I love thy law. He said he
got out the book of Job. And he read about Job's trouble.
Man, this born of woman is a few days and full of trouble. He
cometh forth like a flower, he's cut down. Wilt thou bring into
judgment such a one as this? How can he be clean, this born
of a woman? Then he read chapter 19. I know my Redeemer liveth.
And he'll come someday. He'll be on this earth and I'll
see him with my eye and I'll see him. That's my hope, David
said. He's sitting in the darkness. Maybe he read about Jacob's troubles
in the books of Moses. Maybe he read Hannah's prayer. And all of a sudden, the sun
starts coming up. And you tell me, is it not so
that your darkest night, your most trouble-filled night, sleepless
night, tear-filled night, Huh? If you wake up, you call on the
Lord and you look into His Word, doesn't the sun start to come
up? And that sun came up and started
shining through that window and shone right on him like the countenance
of God shone brightly right upon David saying, it's alright son,
you're my anointed. You belong to me. The Lord lightens
his heart, lightens his burden, the sun shone upon him, and what
David said out of the depth of his heart, out of the joy and
rejoicing of his heart was, I know my Redeemer lives. He's coming.
He's going to stand on this earth and he's going to shine like
the light. I see clearly now. I see just as clearly as a day
without clouds that Jesus Christ reigns. Overall. although it be not so with my
eyes." I know there is great peace and
joy for a believer, but it is mingled with sorrow. It is mingled
with sadness for others. David said in verse 5, After seeing such a clear vision,
though, he began to think about his own and others, his house. He said, although my house be
not so with God, my house is not so. David was a man. David was a married man. David
had children. David had grandchildren. He had
many of them. Many of them, listen to me for your comfort, most
of them did not know the Lord. David. Samuel had two sons. Neither
one of them knew Him. Eli, two sons, didn't know the
Lord. David was married. His wife,
Michael, I told you about her. She didn't love the gospel. She
despised it. Anybody? Anybody have a spouse? Anybody
have children? He said, Absalom. That's why
he wept so hard over Absalom. Absalom, my son, my son, my son,
would God I had died instead of you because I know the Lord.
Anybody? Many people. Many people. You see that? Oh, the Lord broke
this for us. You're not alone. He broke his heart. Absalom, Adam, Michael, Joab, his best friend,
turned on him. Now listen, and this is what
my pastor said in the message. I listened to him. I told Mindy
I had a complete message made up and ready to go. And I listened
to him. I had a little job, a big job
Mindy had me do, painting. And I thought, I want to listen
to him on this. And he preached it. And I just
took my notes, boom, and sat. Dad used to say, if somebody
preaches a better message, I'll preach that one. Well, you did
and I am. But he said, now listen to this.
And I like to drop his name and men and others because if you
despise me, you won't listen to me, you'll listen to him. Don't ever compromise the truth
of salvation for the sake of somebody you love. Don't ever compromise the truth
of God's sovereign mercy and grace and salvation to include
someone we love, to give hope to a member of our family, to excuse a rebel against God. These are His words, wise words. Sometimes even strong believers
lose a loved one and say at their death, at their departure, well,
maybe, you know, maybe. And though that man or woman
or young person or whoever it may be, though they didn't love
the truth, they never spoke of the truth, wouldn't come hear
the truth, never talked about God's mercy, never talked about
God's electing grace, never talked of Christ's blood and His righteousness, maybe the Lord is... No, He's
not. No, He says one way. But the
truth is the same. No matter if I believe it or
you believe it. David was honest before God and
before men. And he said, my wife doesn't
know God. She doesn't love God. I love her, but she doesn't love
God. And if she dies today, she's lost. And my son doesn't. And my daughter
doesn't. And my mother may be. And I'm
not going to make allowances for them because God's glory
is at stake here. The truth is at stake. And how
He saves sinners is at stake here. David, like Job, did not
charge God foolishly. Oh no. It gave him a great heartache. And that's why he wept, like
I said, over Absalom. And that's why we need to keep
speaking to them now. That's why there's hope. That's
why it's so urgent, people. That's why I keep telling you,
the greatest thing you can do for your children and your spouses
and your fathers and mothers and your friends and your neighbors,
bring them to hear this gospel. This is the only hope for them.
You just can't hope, a hope, a hope, a hope. Your hope's got
to be in Christ alone. Not in a refuge of lies, not
in religion today, not in free will religion. That is not the
covenant, David's speaking of it. That's not how God, God saves
one way, by one person for His glory. He's going to get glory
either in our salvation or our damnation. He's going to get
the glory. And those who are really in it for God's glory,
they're going to say amen. And David said this, although
it's not so with my house. But God, yet God, now here it is, verse
5, God, now listen to what he says carefully, yet God, yet
He hath made with me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things
and sure. God hath made this concerning
me. He's not saying, you know He's
not saying, You remember, we read it in 2 Samuel 7, that God
didn't bring him in and say, well, David, I want to do this
if you'll cooperate. Did he? He didn't say, David,
if I want to do this, but I can't do it unless you let me, unless
you cooperate, unless you exercise your faith. Did he? Did he ask
David anything? When God revealed that covenant
of grace to David in 2 Samuel 7, did he ask David one thing? No. What did he do, Brother Stephen?
He told him. He told him. He commanded this. And this is my hope. This is
my salvation, brother Stan. This is all my salvation. It
completely, 100% depends on what God hath done. What God hath said, what Christ
hath said, what Christ hath done. Not me. It's not dependent on
me. If it is, I'm a goner. If I have to look back and find
something with which to commend me to God when I get to heaven
and say, well, I was real sincere. David's dying words here. This
is dying words. He's going to see God. What's
his hope? That God hath done this. Nothing he'd done. God hath made
concerning me an everlasting covenant that God, before the
world began, before I was born, before I'd done any good or evil,
this is my hope. That He chose me. Like Spurgeon,
didn't wait until after I was born. He sure wouldn't have chosen
me then. Didn't wait until after I grew up and became better.
Oh, that's not going to happen. But God. You see, his whole hope,
Robin, is in yet God. But God hath made concerning
me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things. And sure, God
made this covenant to save, chose a people to save, set His love
on, they didn't deserve it. They weren't worthy of it, but
He chose a number, the stars of the sky and the sands of the
sea, gave them to Jesus Christ in a covenant for Christ to come
down here, be made their wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
redemption, prophet, priest, king, their all and end all,
do everything for them. Boy, it's sweet isn't it? That
the Holy Spirit is sent to round them all up. They're dead. He's
got to quicken them. He's going to do it. He's going to call
them by His grace, by His gospel. He's going to raise them from
the dead. He's going to bring them. He's going to keep them
all their day. He's going to keep them all. All of them. That God hath done this. An everlasting
covenant. It will never change. My rock.
Unchangeable. Unmovable. The foundation upon
which I stand. The covenant upon which I stand. Ordered. Do you like that? Ordered
in all things. Everything is ordered. Predestinated. For those who like the sound
of the Word, I'm going to say it again. Having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto Himself,
ordered all things, ordained all things, as many as God chose
were ordained to eternal life. As many as were ordained to eternal
life, The reason you believed, because God ordered you to. You like that? David said, it's
all my salvation. Not dependent on me, not subject
to anything about me, can't be changed, can't be stopped. It's
God's covenants ordered and it's sure in the hands of a surety,
all my salvation. It's completely fixed, unalterably,
unchangeably, eternally fixed. And the Lord Jesus cried. When
he hung on that cross, he said, it's finished. Anybody like that? Is this your salvation? That's the dying words of a dying
man now. This means everything. It's all
my salvation. His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Christ, God chose me. That's all my hope. Read it in
verse 5 again. It says, this is all my salvation
and all my desire. It's all my salvation that God
chose me. It's all my hope. All my salvation
is in Christ. All my salvation is in the Holy
Spirit keeping me. Not my goodness, not my baptism,
not my church membership, not my righteousness, not my will,
not my choice, not my works, not my turning over a new leaf,
not my morality, not my diligence, not my sincerity. It's Christ
and Christ only. Christ is all. Is this all your
salvation? And, in closing, he said, it's
all my desire. All my desire. God's glory. That's
the reason he didn't make allowances for anybody. Although my house
be not so, I'm more concerned with God's glory than even with
the salvation of my very house. Eli did that. Remember when they
came to Eli and they said, your two sons are killed. You know,
it broke his heart. You know it did. But when they
said, the ark is taken, God's going to remove the Gospel.
It killed him. It killed him. Take anything,
take my sons, but don't take the gospel. It's all my desire. This is how
you know. This is how you know. Like David
said, Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And there's none on earth
I desire beside Thee. Paul said, I have a desire
to depart and be with the Lord, which is far better. Let me read in closing this,
and it says in verse 5, although he make it not to grow. Go to
Habakkuk chapter 3, and I am closing. The little book of Habakkuk
chapter 3. David said, although it be not
so with my house, and although it's not growing, it's not growing,
not prospering. Everything is just not going
well. Kingdom diminishing. Troubles
enlarging. Enemies more than they used to
be. Friends less. Not seeing as many
people come. Seeing more people go. More discouragements than encouragements,
although we make it not to grow. But David said, this is all my
desire. Whether anybody else needs it
or not, I do. That's what he said. Back at 3, you remember this
in chapter 3, verse 2. He said, Lord, I've heard Your
speech and I was afraid. Oh Lord! This is his heart's
prayer. Revive thy work in the midst
of the years. These are dangerous times, perilous
days. Some shall fall away from the
faith. Oh, Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years. In
the midst of the years, make known, make yourself known. In
wrath, remember mercy. But run down to verse 17. He
says, if he doesn't, Lord, if you don't, if you don't revive
us, if you don't send anybody else, If you don't save another
soul, it's all mine. Although the fig tree shall not
blossom, these look like bad times, don't they? Neither shall
fruit be in the vine, not seeing much fruit. The labor of the
olive shall fail, all this labor, not much fruit. Fields yield
no meat. The flock shall be cut off from
the fold. There shall be no herd in the stalls yet. I will rejoice
in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation."
Habakkuk knows him. The Lord God is my strength,
my rock. He will make my feet like hinds'
feet. I'm dragging now, but I'm going to skip soon. He will make
me to walk upon mine high places. And he says this in closing,
Let's sing something. To the chief singer, Ron, that
be you. And on my stringed instrument,
Sherry, that be you. Let's sing something about this
sweet covenant. Although it not so, everybody
in this house, But some in here can say, God
hath made with me. Absolutely. And it's all my salvation. Make it theirs. Lord, make it
theirs. Okay. Come up, Ron.