You know, sometimes if we will
read these hymns out loud, not sing them, sometimes the message
gets lost in the music. It's that way with me. I was this morning reading one
of these hymns out loud to myself. Streams of mercy. Never ceasing. call for songs of loudest praise. Oh, to grace, our greater debtor,
daily I am constrained to be, let thy goodness like a fetter,
a chain, bind my wandering heart to thee, prone to wander. Lord,
I feel it, prone to leave the God I love, Here's my heart. Take. Seal it. Seal it for thy
courts above. What a hymn. Psalm 106. This psalm begins with praise. That mercy calls for songs of
the loudest praise. This psalm begins praise and
prayer. And it ends with a prayer and
praise. It begins in verse 1, "...Praise
ye the Lord, O give thanks..." That's what praise is, giving
honor and glory to the Lord. "...O give thanks..." Give thanks
unto the Lord. Why? He's good. So good. Why? What's good? What's He done? His mercy. His mercy. Mercy means not getting what
we deserve. Mercy also means kindness, just
continual kindness. His mercy endures forever. And then whoever wrote this prayed
a prayer in verse 4 and 5, Remember me, O Lord, with the favor, with
that grace that You have for Your people, Thy people. O, visit
me. Visit me with thy salvation. Visit me. Remember me. He's calling on the Lord. Whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. This psalm
won't mean a thing to you, to me, this message, unless it's
personal. Salvation is something The Lord
does every one of His people, or every one of His people. And
unless we call, each one of us, young or old, on the name of
the Lord, we will not be saved. Whoever wrote this is calling,
Lord, remember me. That thief on the cross, Lord,
remember me. Remember me. I hope he'll remember
me. Remember me, O Lord, with the
favor. Save me by your grace, is what he said. Would you visit
me with thy salvation? Visit me. We get a lot of our old country
and southern sayings from the Bible. I'm going to go visit
it. I'm going to pay somebody a visit. Well, that's what it means. It
means to come see. It means to call on. Lord, call
on me. Come see me. Come where I am. Visit me. You know, there are
two kinds of visitations in Scripture. Scripture speaks of two visitations.
One is in judgment. The other is in mercy. One is
in condemnation. The other is in salvation. The
Lord said to Jeremiah, or through Jeremiah, and he listed all the
sins of the people. His people. His people. Not the world. His people. Like here. And he said, Shall
I not visit them for these sins? Shall I not? Shall I not take
vengeance upon them for what they've done to me? What they've
not done to me? what they continue to do to me? Shall I not visit them with judgment
and affliction? Shall I not? But the Lord is merciful. You
want a blessing, you read Jeremiah 31. If you haven't read that
in a while, you read it. Maybe we'll look at it Wednesday night.
But in that chapter, he says, oh, Ephraim. Ephraim. He's such a rebel. But I love
you. I love you. And he said, I'm
going to have mercy on you. When you rebel against me, I'm
going to have mercy on you. So that's who I am. Visitation. Lord, visit me. The Lord has visited this country,
this nation, in judgment. Romans 1. You know, go there
with me, okay? We look at it so many, so many,
many times, but it's becoming more and more current, more and
more relevant as the days go by, so much more as we see the
day approaching. Romans 1. The Lord clearly is
visiting this nation in judgment. In Romans 1, verse 18, it says,
"...the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness."
That is, suppress the truth. Turn away their ears from the
truth. The wrath of God is revealed. Look at all that's happening in our nation. Just our nation.
A nation that was chartered under this premise, one nation under
God. And now it's clearly under God's
wrath. Do you see that? Do you see that?
The wrath of God is clearly revealed from heaven. Look at verse 21. Because when they knew God, see,
the invisible things are clearly seen, His eternal power in God.
When they knew God, they glorified Him not as God. And blame it
on religion. Blame it on false preachers. They don't preach God as God.
They don't preach the fear of the Lord. They preach a God who
is not to be feared. He's not God. But they glorified
Him not as God. Look at verse 20. Neither were
thankful. They're not thankful. They become vain in their imagination. all sorts of things about God.
Their foolish heart was darkened. Oh, they think they're wise,
professing themselves to be wise. They've just become fools. Look at this, verse 23, "...change
the glory of the incorruptible God in an image made like man." Change. You hear a lot today about change,
don't you? Everybody wants change. This
is exactly the change. that man has made. Change the glory of God. Look
at verse 25. Change the truth of God. That's
the change that is taking place there. That's what everybody
wants. Let's change the truth so that we need not hear about
this holy God anymore. And verse 26, for this cause
God gave them up. unto vile affections, so that
the whole land is full of abominations. Sodom and Gomorrah. They declare
their sin as Sodom. Declare it. Proud of it. Verse 32 says, Know in the judgment
of God. God sends physical judgments
clearly because of iniquity and sin. Yet, knowing that, they
which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do
it, but have pleasure, condone it, consent with, and think it's
okay. Now you tell me, has God visited
this country? I remember one time saying in
the presence of some older preachers, I was a young man, saying God's
going to judge this country because of sin, homosexuality and all. And one of them wisely said to
me, corrected me, he said, no, that is the judgment of God.
God gave him over. Gave him over. Gave him over. But God, and such were some of
you, the Scripture says, but God. And great mercy. God has
a remnant, according to the election of grace, whom he visits. In Luke chapter 1, Zacharias
said the Lord has visited his people and redeemed his people. Has visited a people not worth
visiting. Has come to save a people not
worth visiting. Isn't that what Psalm 8 says? What is man that thou art mindful
of him, or the son of man that thou wouldest visit him? The centurion said that. He said, Lord, I'm not worthy
for you to come into my house. The Lord is merciful and visits
his people. They're not worth saving. Like
Israel. Was Israel any better than Egypt?
You read that. Are we? Are we any better than
the people of this world? In many respects, we're worse.
Now, God has, you know, made a new creature and people that
are salt of the earth, and he said, of whom the world is not
worthy. That's true. But no, you know yourself. You
know your own heart. God does too. And he knows that
if it were not for his restraining grace, that you'd be worse than
the worst person in the world. Isn't that right? That we were
people not worth saving, people not worth visiting, not worth
redeeming. Redeemed means to pay for, to
buy. You men buy cattle, don't you? And you hope for a return on
your money, don't you? That's why you buy. Hope to get
something out of them. What's the Lord going to get
out of us? What did He get out of Israel?
What did he get out of it for all that he did for it? What
did he get? Not all he's going to get out
of us, hopefully, is thanks. That's what he says. You render
the sacrifice of your life. Just thank me. He doesn't expect
too much. Redeem. Purchase. Buy back. Purchase
how? How do they redeem? No, not with
silver and gold. Not with their vain conversation
or life or doing this or that, but with the precious blood of
the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. We're sure not worth Him dying
for. But that's our God. And look at all in our text here.
I don't have time. We're not going to look at every
verse. We're just going to skim through here. Look at what all
they did, our fathers, and what all we've done and not done. We've sinned. With our fathers,
we have verse 7, our fathers understood not thy wonders in
Egypt. They didn't understand what all you'd done for them.
They just didn't understand. We don't either. Like a child,
a little child with their parent that keeps doing and doing and
giving and giving and giving and giving. And they're demanding,
even rebellious. And that parent keeps giving
and keeps giving anyway. And they're just nodding. They
don't have a clue. They don't understand. And everything
they have is because Dad and Mom loved me. And the only reason
I'm not kicked out right now is because they loved me. Not
my love to them, their love to me. Such is our Heavenly Father. We don't understand. We don't
remember. We don't remember. We provoke
Him. You know how many times it says
they provoked Him? Provoke means to agitate. Provoke means to
keep doing something. Has anybody ever provoked you?
Why are you doing that? Why are you doing that? Would
you please quit? Provoke, provoke, provoke, provoke.
Keep saying that. Hebrews talks about the provocation.
1 Corinthians 10 warns of it. Remember the provocation. They
kept provoking him for 40 years. Provoke, provoke, provoke. Nevertheless,
the last time we looked at this, Nevertheless, in spite of their
great sin against him, his grace was never less than their sin. In spite of their great rebellion
against him, his grace was never less than their sin. Where iniquity abound, grace
did much more than that. He saved them. Why? Verse 8,
for His name's sake. For His name's sake. That's who
He is. That's why He does it. He's called the Savior, the Lord.
Look down at verse 12. It says they believed after He
redeemed them, after He saved them, after He got them out of
trouble. It says they believed Him then.
Oh, they believed Him. And they sang His praise. They
believed Him. And they sang atop of their lungs. Praise the Lord, didn't they?
How long did that last? How long does it take for us
to forget? Lord, when you leave this place,
when we leave this place, we leave this place, how long does
it take for us to forget what we've heard? They soon forgot. Verse 13, they forgot His Word.
And they didn't wait for His counsel. Moses went up to receive
the law for 40 days. Forty days. Forty days. That's not long to wait, is it?
And they waited about ten and about twelve, about fifteen,
and said, he's not coming back. We're just going to do our thing.
Look at it in verse fourteen, they lusted exceedingly in the
wilderness. Tempted God with that lusted
exceed. Lust, don't just think of sexual
lust, think of strong desires for anything. Lust of the flesh,
lust of the eyes, that's covetousness. Have any strong desires after
whatever things? It means to strongly desire whatever,
any or all things, and you don't need them, but you've got to
have them. And you're just filled with this
desire to have them. And you're not going to be happy
until you have them. Exceedingly so. Tempted God. Tempted God. I've given you all
you need. Why would you want more? Why
would you want more? Tempted God. And so he gave them
their request, verse 15. He gave them exactly what they
wanted. Oh, at what price? He sent leanness into their soul. Solomon said it would be better
to have a little. with the fear of the Lord than
great treasure and nothing but trouble. Didn't it? It would
be better to be rich in faith toward God than rich in the things
of this world with no faith. Very little faith. Well, he gave
them that. Leanness of soul. Leanness. And verse 16 says they envied
Moses in the camp. Corinthians 10 says they tempted
Christ. That is, they got tired of Moses. And Aaron, the saint, the saint
of the Lord, got tired of him. Got tired of his voice. Got tired
of following him. And some of them thought they could do a
better job. The sons of Korah thought they could do a better
job. Nathan and Abiram and some others. says the earth swallowed him
up. You know, it still happens today.
It still happens. God raises up a man and people
get tired of him. And what happens is if they leave,
the earth swallows them up. They go back to the world and
it swallows them up. And a fire was kindled They were
burned up because of it. Verse 19, they made a calf in
Horeb. They made a calf and they worshiped
it. How many calves have we made? Idols have we made of our own
making. Verse 20, they changed their
glory into similitude of an ox that eateth grain. Their glory.
What is our glory? The glory of man is the image
of God. God created man in His image. And oh, how we've come short
of that door, haven't we? We've become like an ox that
eats grass. Where's the man? The ox knows
his owner. The ass is master's crib. And we changed our glory. The glory of God is to The glory
of man is to serve God, to know God, like Adam. Adam had that
glory. He had that image. He served God. He walked with
God. He didn't need anything. He was naked. He didn't need
or want any of the things that we think we need and have to
have to make us happy. He didn't have food. He didn't
have rain. He had God. That was his glory. The Son of Man came, had not
where to lay his head. He glorified God as a man. The
glory of God was seen in the face, the person, the work, the
life of the Lord Jesus Christ. He loved God. He served God.
His happiness was, he said, my meat and drink to do His will.
That's glory. We've changed that glory into
being like a dumb beast living for eating and drinking and baseless. We've changed the glory. We've
sinned. We've all sinned. Look at verse
21, they forgot God. Keep forgetting God, don't you?
Oh, thank God. They never forgot Him. You know what our salvation is?
Lord, remember me. Don't forget me. I forget You
every day. I forget Him every day. Don't forget me. That's going
to be our salvation. Verse 23, somebody stood in the
breach. Somebody that loved them. a man that they despised, that
they got mad at, that they said, we want you out of here, stood
in the breach for them, prayed for them. Now who is that? Well,
he's just a man. That's Moses. He's a real man
that they hated. Flesh and blood man like them.
They got mad at him. They got so angry at him. He's
praying for them. But yet he represents the Lord Jesus Christ.
Moses is type of Christ who stood in the breach and had not Moses
said, if you're going to blot them out, blot me out. God said,
I won't blot them out. Be yourself. Stood in the breach. Our Lord Jesus Christ stood in
the breach. He hung in the breach on Calvary's tree. If you seek
me, let them go. Made sin for us. What's a sin? If the Lord should mark iniquity,
You hear that? The Lord should mark iniquity.
Who shall stand? We're all guilty. And the Lord
marked it and laid on Him the iniquity of us all, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Verse 24, they despised the pleasant
land. They believed not His Word. The
pleasant land was the promised land. The Lord kept telling them,
I'm bringing you out of Egypt. This is not your home. I'm bringing
you out. I am come down. I love that exodus.
I am come down to bring you out, to take you up. I'm taking you
out of this God-forsaken plague. I'm plucking you out as a brand
from the burning. I'm saving you out of this present
evil world. To take you up out of this miry
plague, out of this dung heap, to sit with princes. Now don't,
this is not your land. You're going to a land that's
flourished with milk and honey. Keep your eye on that. I promise
you, I cannot lie. I'm God, I cannot lie. I'm taking
you to the promised land. You've got to go through the
wilderness a little while. You just wait on me now. Wait on me. Be
patient. I'm going to provide everything
for you. I'm going to send you through trials, but it's for
your good. Just wait and you'll see. They began to think nothing of,
that's what that meant, the pleasant land. They forgot. They lost
sight of it. They didn't believe His Word. They didn't believe
His Word. They lost sight of it. What for? What did they start lusting after?
They forgot the land flowing with milk and honey. where God dwells in peace for
leeks and onions. That's what occupied them. Let's
go back, they said, to the flesh pots of Egypt. We'd rather be
in bondage in the slime pits than to suffer just a little
while for glory. What ignorant people. What fools. What fools. Despise the Lamb. And they murmured in their tents.
Verse 25. Murmured in their tents. Who
heard them murmuring? Well, God did. He hears every time. They murmured in their tents.
Why were they murmuring? I want a bigger tent. You're
not thankful that you have one? and murmured. Why? I want this. I want that. And murmured. Who are they murmuring against?
Well, they can't see God, so they murmur to be Moses. Murmuring
in their tents. My, my. Anybody? We ever murmur
in private? The Lord hears it. Harken not
unto the voice of the Lord. He lifted up his hand against
them. Somebody else, one more time,
somebody else stood in the gap, in the breach. Phineas was his
name. To execute judgment, it was counted unto him for righteousness.
Who's that? Who's Phineas? Do you know? Well,
his name is not so important, but I'll tell you who he represents.
The Lord Jesus Christ. Who executed judgment. It was
counted unto him for righteousness. That's the Lord Jesus Christ
who is our righteousness. He's made unto us righteousness. And God made him to be sin. Why would he do that? Because
he's God, that's why. He's not a man. They angered him. Verse 32. at
the waters of strife, so it went ill with Moses for their sake.
They provoked Moses. He spoke unadvisedly with his
lips. I remember that one time that
I got angry with my pastor, and it was a personal matter, family
matter, and I confronted him. And I still to this day regret
that. Not knowing what he was going
through. Not knowing what he had to deal with. Moses was one
man. They were two million. They got mad at Moses. And he's
just a man. And they had calls every now
and then to get mad. They reckoned he had calls to
get mad at them. Two million. Two million. Moses would wake up in the morning
And he's going to go face these people and try to lead them and
try to deal with them and bring the Word of God to them. And
he's full of fear. He's full of dread. Full of dread. Anybody wake up this morning
dreading coming here? I did. Anybody have any fear about hearing
the Word, not hearing it? Saying the right thing? Saying
the wrong thing? Speaking unadvisedly? Anybody? I do. Every time. And the one time that I confronted
him, up to this day, regret it with all my heart, not knowing
what he was going through at the time. I do now. I do now. Gabe was at the emergency
room last night with members of his church because their daughter
was in a wreck. Tony and Rita's daughter was
in a wreck. She's okay. But it starts for Gabe right
now. Everything that happens to them
happens to him. And everybody's looking to him,
wanting him. to lead, to guide, to speak,
to help. He's scared to death, but he's
got to act like he's not. He doesn't want to stand up and
speak, but somebody's got to. And they got Methodist Moses.
He's just a man. Yes, he is. And Dad, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. And the Lord didn't destroy them.
He didn't destroy them. He should have. He should have. They mingled,
verse 35, they mingled among the heathen. They mingled among the heathen.
In other words, they acted just like the world. Anybody? Serve their idols. Sacrifice
their sons and daughters. What's that mean? Rather than
deal with them, just give them what they want. Rather than speak
to them, rather than force them to come and hear the Word. And
Abraham was one of the only men that the Lord said, he'll order
his children. Samuel didn't do it. Eli didn't
do it. Children of Israel didn't do
it. Try to make them happy. They let them have everything
they wanted. Rather than deal with them, risks their hatred
and anger, but tell them the truth. They didn't do it. You
just give them, they'll be alright. Maybe not. Maybe not. Anybody? I remember, I know it's easier
to not say anything, do anything, just let it go. We're a sorry bunch, aren't we? We've sinned with our fathers. They defiled themselves with
their own works. Their own works. Went a-whoring with their own
inventions. Verse 39. That means they made up everything.
You could sin. There was a way to make up sin,
and they did it. Anybody? And the wrath of the
Lord was kindled. He gave them over to the hand
of the heathen. Ruled over them. And they feared
greatly. They lived in the land of Babylon,
and they were afraid of the king, and they were afraid for themselves,
for their children. They were under this constant
fear in this land where they lived. United States of America. Babylon. Babylon. Provoked, provoked, provoked. Verse 43. Many times did he deliver
them, but they provoked him. Their counsel. This is what I
think. This is what I believe. This is what we're going to do.
And they were brought low for their iniquity. Now, here's the good news. Nevertheless,
he regarded their affliction. Why would the Lord have any regard
for us? Why would the Lord continue to
regard us? Why would He continue to have
anything to do with us? Because he's the Lord, that's
why. He regarded them. He heard their cry. Why would
he keep hearing our cry when the only time we cry is when
we get in trouble? Because that's who he is. Because he's merciful. He remembered,
verse 45, for them his covenants. They forgot it. He remembered
it for them. Don't you like that? They forgot
it. What is his covenant? It's not what? He's saying a
thing. The covenant's not a thing. It's
not a doctrine. It's not a piece of paper. It's
a person. There's somebody sitting at his
right hand whom the Lord looks at every time. He's got scars
on his hands and his feet, and on his head and on his side.
And when the Father, the Holy God and Father, looks at him,
he says, I'll have mercy on them for Christ's sake. Like David,
who said, Is there any of the house of Saul my enemies? who would like for me to be off
the throne, is there any of the house of Saul that I might show
him kindness for Jonathan's sake? Because I love Jonathan as my
own soul." They said, yeah, there's one, but he sure is a worthless
fellow. Down in the house of Lodibar,
his name is Mephibosheth, and he won't come if he could. David said, you betcha. I'm going
to show him kindness, whether he wants it or not. I'm going
to be kind to him. Why? Because David is a man after
God's own heart. David represents the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of David, who does everything for us. God has mercy upon us for Christ's
sake. That's the covenant. It's a person.
The covenant is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the multitude of
God's mercy. Read on. He made them to be pitied.
Verse 7. And this is why it ends with
a prayer. You see why it ends with a prayer? It begins with
praise. And then a prayer, a personal
prayer. It begins with praise. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah.
Oh, give thanks unto the Lord. Why should I? Oh, listen. You
listen. What you've done and not done
and what the Lord has done and not done to you. I'm going to
list all this. Many times, just half of it.
That's why we need to pray, O Lord, visit us. Show us favor. Visit us. Save us, verse 47. Now David is praying for all
his people like Rahab. Lord, Joshua, save all of us. Save us, O Lord our God, and
gather us from among the heathen to give thanks unto thy holy
name. Save us. and gather us. You know why the Lord saves us?
For His name's sake. For His glory and honor. For
His glory and honor. And the Lord saves us, it says
here, to gather us from among the heathen. To gather us from
among the heathen. Salvation is for the Lord to
gather us. The Lord to come and gather us
like a shepherd does his sheep. Like a hen does her brood gather
from the heathen. How does He gather us? How does
the Lord gather us? Well, He does it in Matthew 24
when the Lord said, and makes us willing and makes
us come. All that the Father giveth Him
shall come. He gathers us by the Spirit of God, by the Gospel,
by this thing that the world calls foolishness. God gathers
His people to come and hear and see what? Their sin? Look what
you've done. Thank God's grace. Look what
I've done. I'll have my son on that tree
for you. To gather us to see Christ. Where
the carcass is, that's where the eagles are gathered. Last night, it was a good gathering. I am glad. It was a good gathering
in honor of Gabe and Hannah. And I know some could not come
for whatever reason, but most were there. And I was very, very
pleased. See, that's my son-in-law, my
daughter. That's a good illustration. And
that's what we're doing here. We're gathering to honor the
Son even as we honor the Father. And do you know who will be gathered? Do you know who thinks it's a
great privilege and an honor? Not a duty. Not a chore. You didn't go there last night
because you had to. Why did you do it? Because you
love Gabe and Hannah for their honor and their sacrifice. And he's sorry to see them go.
Well, who gathers? He announced, we're going to
preach Christ every time. Every time? Every time. We're
going to preach Christ. It's a poor preacher and a poor
message, but it's a wonderful subject. We're going to preach
Christ. Now, who gathers? Who gathers? Christians. You want to know
the definition of a Christian? It's somebody who loves the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's someone who worships the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's someone who knows who the
Lord Jesus Christ is. It's someone who needs Jesus
Christ. Someone who knows that Jesus
Christ is all their salvation. Someone that loves the Son. And
they gather every time. The Lord gathers them. That's
who gathers them. And you know, look at this. You
know from where they're gathered? The heathen. They're gathered from the heathen.
What are the heathen? The word means stranger. The word means
stranger. Strangers to the covenant. Strangers
to God. They say we have a strange God.
They say this is strange doctrine. Our God's not strange. He is
God. Their God is the one that's strange. Love somebody and won't do something
for them? That's strange love to me, isn't it? Love them and
won't save them? That's strange love to me. No,
no, no. Our God is not strange to them,
but they're strangers to God, strangers to the truth, strangers...
You don't hear people that you work with, religious people,
talking about God's mercy, do you? You hear people talking
about the mercy of God to them, the grace of God to them. Oh,
what great grace the Lord has shown them. Oh, how the Lord
has shown mercy to me, such a sinner. You ever hear anybody say that?
Huh? They're strangers to that. They're strangers to that. Not
God's people. That's our language. We're not strangers to that.
He's gathered us from those heathen. Heathen that have no God, heathen
that are idolaters, heathen that are of the world, what has he
gathered us to do? Look at it, verse 47, to give
thanks unto his holy name. What are we doing here? What
are we doing here? Oh, give thanks unto the Lord. That's the essence of worship
and praying. Thank you, Lord, for what? Everything. everything, especially
salvation. Thank you to give thanks, save
from an unthankful world. Remember that in Romans 1? They
weren't thankful. Do you hear anybody thankful
around you? Murmurs, complainers. Don't do it. That's the worst
sin of all. Ingratitude. Be thankful. Be
thankful. You'll give thanks. He's gathered
us out of a bunch of unthankful, ungrateful people to give thanks. I hear you men pray. And about
all you can say is, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Give thanks. And look at this. You'll like
this. You need this. He's gathered us to give thanks
unto His holy name and to triumph in Thy praise. To triumph in
Thy praise. Triumph is a victory. It means
victory over the world. Do you know how we'll have a
victory over this world and not be overcome by it? We lust exceedingly. You know how that we will triumph
over the lust for this world, the things of this world, lust
of the eye, lust of the flesh? You know how we will triumph
over it? It's if we see Him. If we see His beauty. If somebody
can keep telling us who He is, and we hear it, and we see Him
in His Word, see His beauty, then we won't see much beauty
in anything else. If we glory in Him, we won't
see any glory in anybody or anything else. That's how we triumph. We triumph in His praise, thinking
about Him. We triumph over sin. You want
to deterrent the sin? You want to restrain the sin,
keep you from sinning? Boy, I need it. This is it right
here. Worship and praise. When you
see Christ crucified, hanging on that tree because of your
sin, that's the only deterrent and restraint for sin. That's
it. The only deterrent. The only
thing to do. When you see His beauty, when
you see His holiness, you see His righteousness, you say, I
want to be like that. I want to be like this. I want
to be like that. You'll triumph in His presence. We triumph over self. If we start
praising Him, we won't be full of self-pity. Self-pity. If we start thanking Him, praising
Him as we ought, we'll start realizing, what have I got to
complain about? I have defiled myself with my
own words. I'm getting what I deserve. The
Lord has not dealt with me according to my name. He dealt with Him.
Cheer up. That couldn't be me hanging on
that cross. It ought to be. Triumph over self. Over self-righteousness. When we speak of His righteousness
and His only, we'll see we don't have any. Triumph over self-seeking. If we seek His glory, there's
no room for ours. We triumph over unbelief. Who
is He that overcometh? He that believeth. This is that
that overcometh the world, even your faith. We triumph over unbelief,
fears, worries, and sorrows by praise. Now listen. By praise. If we can realize what the Lord
has done for us already, and not forget His works.
Remember that? They didn't remember His works.
If we can just think back, and there's a chapter in Deuteronomy
that begins this way. I want to show you all the way
I led you. Deuteronomy, the whole book is
remembering, bringing to their remembrance what all He's done
for them. We'll try up over fears and worries and sorrows if we
can look at what, pray, look at what the Lord has done for
us. Look at what He's done for us. If we can look at what He's
promised and He's fulfilled. If we can look at where we came
from. We forget, we forget we were
in the slime pits. Now look at it. We're on the
dung heap. Now look at you sitting among friends. We triumph and
pray. And where we're going, if we
keep in mind where we're going, this is not so bad, is it, what
we're enduring? Look what we've got to look forward
to. Triumph and pray. So blessed be the Lord God, from
everlasting to everlasting. And let all the people say, let
all the people, male and female, say, Amen. Praise you, Lord. Praise the
Lord. All right, Brother John, you
come and lead us in a hymn.