Morning by morning new birds
did I see. Oh, what a pretty light that
sparkled by day. Great is her faithfulness, pure
and free. theme the whole ad is taken,
as most of you may know, from Lamentations 3, one of our favorite
passages. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great
is thy faithfulness. OK, turn back with me to Psalm
103. This is another favorite passage
of scripture. Of mine and many of you, I know.
Looking back at. Some old notes to see when I
preach from this last. It's been a few years. But I
noticed something that this was the very first message I ever
preached here in Rocky Mountain. 1985, four years before I came
here as your pastor, I filled in here one Sunday night. I preached
in Reiner on Sunday morning and then left there and it took me
about five hours to find Rocky Mountain. I think Ed Berry sent
me down Shooting Creek or something and I got on Shooting Creek and
I thought, I'm in Africa. somewhere, I thought, I'll never
find this place. And then I hit it and landed
on Route 40, you know, and then it was a whizzing and there's
a church, whoo, just in time. And I preached from this, Psalm
103. Now, let's read verses 13 and
14, Psalm 103. Like as a father pitieth his
children, so the Lord pitieth Them that fear him, for he knoweth
our frame, he remembereth that we are dust. Now, this scripture
immediately came to mind when I first gazed into the face of
the world's most beautiful granddaughter. No, seriously, when I first gazed
into the face of my new granddaughter, this scripture immediately came
to mind looking into her little face that little tender. She
hadn't been out long. Granddad wouldn't allow him to
watch it, but that's fine. I wouldn't have wanted to see
my daughter suffering like that, but. At any rate, about an hour
later, I was allowed in 30 minutes. I was allowed in there and looking
into that little tender, weak, red face, little helpless helpless little child. My first thoughts toward her
were, of course, love. I thought of Ezekiel, the child,
you know. When I looked upon you, it was
a time of love. But out of that love, really
my first thoughts were pity. I just felt so for her. Coming
into this world, I thought, I had mixed emotions about Marvin.
She had left a wonderful environment to come into this cold, hard,
cruel place that she'll be well loved. But I thought I had pity
on her. Pity is a good word. Pity means feeling for, compassion. Pity means tender mercy. Tender mercy. Pity means clemency. Total unconditional pardon. Pity. And I thought as I was
looking down on her with pity, I thought to myself, if there's
anything at all I can do for you, I will do it. As much as lies within me. I
will do it to the sacrifice of my life and all of my earthly
possessions. Like as a father pitieth his
children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. Now, if I
think that I, being sinful, think that, Scripture says, our Lord
said, how much more? We can't conceive of this really.
God the Father looking on us with this kind of much more pity
than this. He said, how high are the heavens
above the earth? How high are the heavens above
the earth? Has it ever been measured? He said that is how great his
mercy is toward them that fear him. Now that's pity. Truly, the Lord is good to all
of his works, Psalm 145 says, and his tender mercies are over
all his works, but his special saving mercy and his love and
his pity is upon his children, his
children. That's what it says here. Look
at verse 13 again. Like as a father pitieth his
children. All men are not God's children.
The Scriptures are very plain about that, aren't they? Romans
9 tells us that. The children of the promise are
accounted for the seed. Children of the flesh are not
children of God. That's very plain from Scripture.
But God does have a vast family. Many children. Who are they?
How are they known? Well, he tells us here, like
as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that
fear him. That's the first mark. That's
the first mark. That's the first work that God
Almighty does in all his babies. That's how they all start, babies.
First work, fear. What is this fear? It's a good
thing. Fear is a good thing. Fear of the Lord is clean, Psalm
19 says. Fear of the Lord. Fear is all.
Fear means to be amazed at. Hesitate to use the word all
because this modern generation, you know, talks about God being
awesome. I don't like modern terms. But the word all is an
old term, actually. It's to stand in awe. It's a
biblical term. Stand in awe. It means to be
utterly amazed at the Lord. And that's the first thing that
our God creates in us, doesn't he? When we get a little glimpse,
when he makes known himself a little bit to us, we are in awe of him. He's a great person. His power,
his glory. And everything I'm going to mention
is revealed in people's reaction to the gospel. The word is free. It's all. And if we ever cease
to lose that all, It's time to get worried. If we ever grow tired of hearing
a man stand up and declare who our God is, high and lifted up,
there's something bad wrong here. But we stand in awe. That's what
fear is. Fear means respect. Profound admiration is what respect
is. Fear means reverence. Fear means
reverence. That means a careful approach. That's the reason we don't call
any man reverent. You know that? Psalm 111, verse
9, holy and reverent is his name. And we're very careful how we
approach our God. This is that fear. We do it in
reverence. You know, there's a strict protocol
in approaching God. You understand what protocol
is? If you go to meet the Queen of England, there's a protocol
you're going to have to observe. She's a royal person. You don't
just rush into her presence and you don't just decide to go see
her. You have to have a personal bid
and so forth. How much more, our God? We never
lose this. God's children never lose this
kind of fear. You understand? Sure you do.
You never lose this fear. And this is the indictment against
this modern world. There's no fear of God before
their eyes. No protocol. God is not feared. God's people
fear him from day one and from then on. They never quit fearing
God. You understand? Oh, perfect love, his perfect
love for us casts out fear, but that fear is fear of being cast
out. And that's what we're going to
see in a minute. But we never stop fearing him. David cried,
Unite our hearts to fear thy name. Fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom, and it It's what we grow in. Reverence. A need for protocol. Fear of
the Lord is submission to Him. Submission to Him. Bow before
Him in humility. Fear of the Lord is repentance.
Fear of the Lord is to cry unto Him. When do we ever quit crying
unto the Lord for mercy? As long as we're sinners, we'll
keep crying on Him. And we're going to see in a moment, as
long as we keep crying, He'll keep hearing. And what we're
doing here tonight is worshipping this guy. We have great reason
to worship now. Innumerable reasons to worship.
David said, if I could number them, if I could reckon them
up in order, they'd be more than I could number. And see, those that fear God,
those that know God, those that have a profound awe and reverence
for and respect for and admiration of him, they have a need to worship
him. Right? They have a need to work.
This is one thing. Need. Not only do we need it,
but we have a need to do it. That's how you know you're God's
people. It's not a duty. It's not a habit. It's a need.
A pressing need. And God's people, and I can't
labor this point too much. Scripture is full of it. The
fear of the Lord. They fear his word. This is missing
today in it. He said to this man when I look
to he that is poor and of contrite heart and trembleth at my word. And a day when people are back
talking and mocking and scoffing and abusing God's word and twisting
and corrupting God's people still tremble at it. What he says,
it pierces their conscience and breaks their heart and causes
them to bow the knee and fear his word. They fear his wrath.
Yes, they do. Fear is power. They fear offending
him. They fear sinning against him.
Fear the Lord. Well, who is the Lord? Who is
this Lord that we fear? The Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, yeah. The Jesus. Jesus. Fear the Lord. So, he says to
all. Now, you've got to lay that foundation
on it. To all who fear him. To all who
fear him. Those workings in your heart,
the things we just described, fear, does that, huh? To all who fear him, this promise
says, like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth
them. All right, let's look at how
the father pitieth his children. This is a message from, this
is a message from our father, which art in heaven. He wrote
this to us. He is the one who said that,
like as a father pitieth his children. God is our father,
the father of them that fear him. Our father by adoption,
by new birth, by his seed implanted, by the same he just read that
back in the study, and by Jesus Christ travailing on the cross
for us in the wee hours of the morning. A child was born by
her parent, travailing to give birth to her. And out came blood
and water and a new life. And so it was with every child
of God. When Christ was crucified on
that cross, out of his side came blood and water. Yes. With something
else. Just like Adam, the Lord took
a rib and made his bride. Even so, the second Adam, the
Lord from glory, prevailed, and out of his wounded side came
his church, his children. He prevailed. He prevailed. All right, here are some ways
in which our Father pities us. He pities us in our weakness,
our weaknesses. Verse fourteen says, He knows
our frame. He knoweth our frame. What is our frame? It's flesh. Yes, he knows. How does he know?
He took part of the same. You know what the Hebrews said?
He who has encompassed himself with the feeling of our infirmity.
He didn't take upon him the nature of angel, but the seed of Abraham.
Flesh, the likeness of sinful faith, but without sin. He took
upon himself flesh, and he knows our frame, that we are but flesh.
Now listen. And you've heard these things
before, but now it's fresh, very fresh on my mind, the birth of
this child. At birth, a little child, a baby,
a newborn baby is totally and completely helpless. Aren't they? I mean, totally. If left to themselves
for any length of time at all, they'll die. The child is totally
helpless, totally dependent upon the parent, aren't they? weak
in the fullest sense of the word week what is weak it means it
can do nothing for themselves totally dependent on someone
to do something like as a father. And when the Lord saved us we
were weak. Without strength. A child little
child can't walk. The Lord finds us we don't walk
by faith we don't have faith a child can't talk child can
act how can you think that all the child can do one thing. And nurse. And there is what
they need that fast that'll stop the cries on one thing you really
stop the crime on a nursing that's exactly what our God says he
does to his children. He says, I'll dandle you and
nurse you, and you'll suck the breast of consolation. What are
God's breasts? Can I say that? That's what he
said, right here. God's Word, by which he, the
milk of God's Word, by which we know. And when God regenerates
us, creates this new life, the first thing, about all we can
do is cry. Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy.
About all we can do is cry. nursing, feeding upon his worry
will stop that cry. I thought of something else.
We can make a mess. A little child is real good at that, making
a mess. But this crying, listen to this,
over in Psalm 34, listen to what he says here. He says in verse
15, that eyes of the Lord upon the righteous, his ears are open
unto their cry. I know a young mother right now
whose ears are attuned to something they've never been attuned to
before. When perhaps no one else will hear it, she will. Right?
Right, Hannah? The cry of her child. It won't
go unheard. How much more? Like as a father
pities his children. Listen to this. The righteous
cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth him out of all his
troubles. The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart. He's near. The parents of that
newborn at first are going to rush in every time that child
cries out. They're going to rush in. And then after a little while,
they'll know when to rush and when not to rush. But one of
the men came up to me after reading in a study, and we all know this
feeling, don't we, man? The feeling of helplessness in
reading the scriptures and praying. Public prayer is one of the hardest
things to do, and you feel so unable. Before, you know, you
think of so many things you'd like to say. And then during
you forget half of it. And afterward, you think, why
didn't I want to say this, I want to say that. Listen to this, Romans eight
says the spirit, we know not what we should pray for as we
are, but the spirit itself make it the intercession for us with
groanings which cannot be uttered. So to all who cry for mercy,
the Father in pity is very merciful, great is his mercy. To all who
cry for help, forgiveness, for grace, he is of very present
help in time of need, like as a father pities his children. He pities our weakness of mind. Our weakness of mind, as I said,
that little newborn knows nothing. I mean, she knows nothing. Well, what is going to save her?
What is going to be her salvation? Her knowledge? We said this recently,
didn't we? We're not going to stand
before God someday and have to give a dissertation on the doctrines
of grace. No, no. There's going to be one
standing there for us. One will be standing in. The
Lord Jesus Christ, our elder brother. And the scripture says
in Isaiah 53, by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify
me. And the only thing the Lord may
ask is, do you know this man? He's asking Christ that. You know this man, of course,
the Father foreknew his people, but he knows our mind, our weakness
of mind, our ignorance. And after it's all said and done,
no matter how many years we live, we're still very ignorant, aren't
we? If the great Apostle Paul, and
I do call him great because he was arguably, well, not even
arguably, but he was the greatest theologian ever, wasn't he? The man God used the most, the
man God used to write most of the scripture, the New Testament If Paul said, we preach in part
and we know in part, where does that leave us? Thank God for the part we do
know, but our Lord knows our ignorance. And he patiently,
like a father pities his children, he patiently, in long suffering
and patience, teaches his children. You remember that little illustration
I gave one time of a mother who told her child to do something
several times? Told her child to do something
nine times. And someone was watching this
and listening, and they said, ma'am, I overheard you tell that
child to do that nine times. Why did you do that? And the
mother said, because they didn't get it after eight. How many times has the Lord told
us what he's told us, huh? How many times? The Lord said,
how often shall I bear with you? How long shall I bear with you?
How often shall he tell us these things, huh? He pities our ignorance. He pities. He pities our ignorance
because he knows our brain. We're flesh. We don't, we don't,
we live, we walk mostly by sight. Yes, we do. Yes, we do. you again
you read that in the first Timothy said. Blessed are you who have
been not seen you. Who though you now see him not
yet you rejoice with joy. Now the Lord had pity on the
disciples who saw and heard all of his wonderful miracles for
three and a half years. You understand what all they
saw? No, we don't understand. We think, well, if I'd have been
there and seen all that, I'd have faith to move mountains. No. No, you'd be just like they
were. Why? It's your flesh. And he
knows that. He knows that. He knows our plan.
It will always be flesh. We're never going to be anything
but flesh. We're bound by this flesh. Yes, we are. were couples
with this environment is called and he knows that and it is that
you know that Frank what is flesh after all that. So it is. We have full of doubts
we should measure God is given many. Numerable problems were
still full of doubt he knows that. And he pities us. Aren't you glad? Anybody getting
any comfort out of this? He pities our fears. We're fearful.
We shouldn't be. We shouldn't be. We've had innumerable...
He's proven himself to us. For me, it's been 50-some years.
For some of you, 60-some. Some of you, 70-some. He's proven
himself faithful, hasn't he? When he said things like, a thousand
shall fall at thy side, ten thousand at thy right hand, it will not
come nigh of thee, you shall not fear the pestilence by day.
He's proving himself, ain't he? Yet we're still afraid. That's
the nature of children, is it not? Isn't that the nature of
children? Nothing terrible happened to
us children growing up, you know, all those years, and yet we're
still afraid, greatly afraid of the dark. And it's just the fact is, we're
flesh and much of it, we're still in darkness. Oh boy, the Lord
is someday going to do away with all our darkness, isn't it? When
we have depressions, this is one of the maladies of the flesh,
isn't it? Depression. Sometimes you get depressed and
you don't know why you're depressed. Something comes over you and
you don't know why. Huh? It's just called flesh, is what
it's called. It's just called being in this
old world. and not of it, and the Lord pities that. Our lack
of understanding tells us something we don't fully understand. The
Lord kept telling his disciples over and over again that he was
going to be going to the cross and be crucified. Over and over
again he kept telling them. They didn't understand. They
just didn't understand. You're the Messiah. You're the
Christ. You came to save us. How can you save us by dying?
We don't understand. They finally did, didn't they?
There's much we don't understand still. He pities our fainting
fits. Fainting fits, that's an old
term for wanting to quit. Ready to halt. That's the way
the scriptures use it. David said, I'm ready to halt.
I'm ready to quit. I want to go back. Peter said
that. Peter said that, didn't he? When the Lord laid in the
grave a couple of days, Peter said, I quit. I'm going fishing. Didn't he? And all of them said, we're going
with you. The Lord pities that. Yes, he does. Pities that. The
Lord pities our bodily weakness. He has a weakness of the mind
and the flesh. The bodily weakness, the weariness
we feel. The Lord said that man must work
while there's twelve hours in a day. You reckon he didn't?
You reckon he didn't? I guarantee you there's not a
harder working man on the face of this planet than the Lord
Jesus Christ. I guarantee you when the sun was up, he was hard
at it. I know he was. And he was weary. I love that
passage in John 4. You do too, don't you, Irene?
John 4, the woman at the well. It said, The Lord, being wearied
with his journey, sat on the well. He walked a long way, she
said. He walked everywhere he went,
unless he was riding in a boat or walking on the water. But
he walked long distances. In this case, he walked a long
way to save one forlorn woman. Was she worth it? No. She was
to him. And he went to great lengths.
This is what our Lord does. He goes to great lengths to save
his people. How deep did he go, the height,
the depth, the width, the breadth of the love of God and the Savior?
Well, it says he wearied him. When it says he was wearied with
his journey, if you look at the margin, it says he wearied himself. He wearied himself. He put himself
through a great deal of trouble. He wearied himself. He didn't
have to do that, but he wearied himself. You know, they were weary themselves
taking care of these children and fathers. It's a labor of
love, isn't it? I thought of that scripture
immediately, too. You know, pain is pretty bad,
isn't it, Hannah? Pretty bad, lady, the pain. But
that scripture says, a woman, when she travails, is in great
sorrow and great pain. But when that baby's born, she
forgets it all. Right? Margaret, is that true?
Is that true? Tammy, is that true? Forgot it
all. All right, let me ask you this. Would you do it again?
Would you go through it again? Mindy? Would you go through it
again? Now, Lord, the scriptures in
Hebrews 12 says, Who for the joy that was set before him endured
the cross, despising the shame, thinking nothing of it. And no one suffered like he did.
He did it willingly. But this weariness, he wearied
himself. And the Lord knows our bodily weariness and our bodily
sicknesses and afflictions. The Lord knows our passions and
our lusts and our temptations. He made his body and he put these
desires within us. Yes, he did. Yes, he did, didn't
he? But sin has greatly corrupted
these things, and the Lord knows that. You know, He was tempted
in all points, like as we are, without sin. But He knows, and
He pities us. Oh, I'm so thankful. He pities
us. Most of all, our spiritual weakness.
We pray. We pray. We strive. We work. Oh, my. Well, listen to this. Like as a father, pity of his
children and their follies and their foolishness. Children,
Scripture says foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child.
That's what makes them so childish. Is this foolishness? You know,
a little baby is not so foolish, but when they grow a little older,
they become little children. Then they start acting, you know,
like little children act foolishly. They say silly things, don't
they? Don't children say the silliest thing? Oh, I love that
passage where it says, out of the mouth of babes and
sucklings is ordained strength to still the innocent. I love
that. Some profound things come out of the mouths of many, but
mostly it's a bunch of silliness in it. They say silly things. They say
stupid things. Don't they? They say childish
things. And they do silly things. Don't children do the silliest
things? Don't they do some stupid things sometimes? Don't they
do the childish things sometimes? Like as a father did his children. And I tell you, I rejoice in
thinking about our Lord watching and listening to those 12 men.
You know, they were together 24 hours a day for three and
a half years, those men. You know how men get together
and they'll just wrestle and poke fun at each other. And,
you know, whoever was, well, you know, Marvin had been the
ringleader and all that, you know, making fun of Stan. You
know, they'd have been leading it like Peter. And some of them,
you know how they did it, poke fun of each other and wrestle
around and just do silly, no matter how old you get, you like
it, do childish things. And I rejoice in thinking about
our Lord watching them as we would watch little children playing
around. Yes, He did. Yes, He did. I reminded you last
week how that no matter how old we get and how long we live,
we're still called His little children, aren't we? As a heaven,
our Lord said, I am from above. Do you realize how high he is?
How lofty he is? Huh? Past finding out? What do we know? How much like
God are we? Do you know how high our God
is? Our Lord is? Yet he condescends to men of
low estate. The little children. And bears
with them. Even smiles at their childishness. Huh? You reckon? Do you? Oh,
yeah. Like as a father. That's why
he wrote this. Like as a father, pitieth his
children. Do you not allow your children to play? You say, straighten
up and act like an adult. When they're two years old? Oh,
no. He knows our frame. This will
give you great comfort, folk. And it'll make you quit listening
to these horrid legalists, too. Oh, you know what our Lord said
about somebody that fends one of his little ones, don't you? You know, the law was a cruel
taskmaster, wasn't it? A hard taskmaster. Have you ever
seen these old movies, these British movies, the English,
these cruel taskmasters in these orphanages, and they take these
kids, and they're just little children, and they won't let
them. Like Oliver, that movie, Oliver, you know, cruel. That was reality. The law, in a sense, is a cruel
taskmaster like that. The Lord delivered his children
from there. delivered his children from that cruel test and he said
woe is unto that one who offends one of my little ones. He said
it would be better for a millstone to be tied about their neck.
Like as a father pitied his children. What if somebody mistreated your
little baby? Huh? Like as a father pitied
his children. Say it can't be me. Do you fear
it? You love God as God? You love
his son? You love his gospel? You love his word? Huh? You love
his people? Like as a father, that's his children. Like as a father, pity of his
children. I thought about this, you know, some, I'm thankful
for mother. Mother, God has given mothers
this motherly instinct. Great patience. He's given mothers
more patience than fathers. This is where the tide ends. God is our father and mother,
you see. But mothers have a patience that I don't believe fathers
have. They love to be around children, talk about children,
and constantly around children, and easily tolerate, even laugh
at all of this for hours and hours and hours on end. Not me. Not me. I quickly grow tired
of it, and I want some peace and quiet. Any other men like
me like that? I do know this that I know this
I found this out from experience that we are more tolerant of
our own children. And other people. And that was. And someone might say I know
I won't do this my granddaughter she you know she's going to the
line but it's going to be right there. Marvin's going to spoil
her rotten but I'm going to I'm going to shape her right up.
But, anyway, somebody say about somebody's child, did you see
that? Look at that. Did you see what they did? And
the father, it's a little girl, the father will say, yeah, I
ain't a kid. So you tolerate things in your
own. And it's a simple illustration, but it's true. The father pitieth
his children. You know, the Lord tolerates
things in us that he won't tolerate in people in the world. You know that? Pride. You got any? Got any foolish
pride left in you? Think you know something? Think
you are something? Think you can do something? Pride, what's
the reason? God's going to wipe out this
earth. The scripture says the Lord of hosts had purposed it
to stain the pride of all glory and to bring into contempt all
the honorable of the earth. Everybody that thinks there's
something. He's going to bring them down. Everybody thinks they
can do something. All pride. The Lord knows how to abase them
and exalt them. Well, God's people, his children,
still have foolish pride. And may I say it? He tolerates
it. He deals with it. He corrects
it. But yet he tolerates it. This foolish pride. You know,
you still have it. And I remember, you know, all of you when your
children were really, really young, you'd say you'd be talking
to them about something, especially when they get up toward teenager,
you know. And teenagers, I'm sorry, I always do this, but
it's just a fact of the matter. When you become 13, you know
everything. That's just the way it is. Anyway,
and you say, son, did you hear me? Or daughter, did you know
what I'm saying? Do you understand what I'm saying? Oh, yeah, I
know, I know. Kelly you look at me you know
good and well they did not hear a word you were saying. I'm just
saying that to pacify you. You know yeah I know oh I know.
Yeah. Or they need help doing something.
Well let me help you. Oh no I can do it myself. I'll
do it myself. You sure you can do that? Oh I'm doing it. Oh
my. Like as a father feeding his
children. Or we think we're helping. I
remember Hannah when she was real, real young. Just a toddler
wanting to help out. Painting something. I want to
help. Let me help paint. Okay. You know, you got to let
them try, don't you? Don't you? Grab a paintbrush. Look what I did. Oh, yeah. You know, amazingly, the Lord
is going to say to his children, well done, thou good and faithful
son. Can you imagine? And we're all
going to say, what have I done? What did I ever do right? Well
done, thou good and faithful. Like as a father. Good job, son. When you messed it all up. Like
as a father. Do you do that? Do you do that,
Mac? Do you do that? How much more? your heavenly
father, huh? I mean, I can't preach this like
it ought to be preached. He said this. If you do this,
be an evil. How much more? This is for our
peace and our comfort. We have nothing to fear, nothing
but God. If we fear him, say ye to the
righteous, It shall be well with them. Oh, how about our foolish
falls? How we fall, get into messes
and jams. You know, in Scripture, Paul
said, when I became a man, I put away childish things. That always
bothered me. I know what he means now in the
context, but it still bothers me. childish understanding of the
truth, but the fact is we still act like children. We get into
messes and jams. We always will. We always will. The first words from our Lord
on the cross were the words I distinctly remember that God used to break
my heart. I distinctly remember like it
was yesterday. The very first words out of our Lord when hanging
upon that cross is what God Almighty used to bring this prodigal home. You know what they were? Our Lord's hanging there, and
we put him there. And his first words were this,
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Father,
he doesn't know what he's doing. He's just a baby. Like as the
Father Smile. The father pity's us and
our unbelief. Oh, you have little faith. Oh,
how much more does he pity us, whom having not seen, yet we
love. He pities our wanderings. These kids are going to get into
what's called the terrible twos, aren't they? There's no way to
pass it up. But it's a good thing, really.
It's a good thing, I think. It's yeah, it's a good thing,
you know, hit it. They find out like they reach
like a wild ass is cold, you know, cold, you know, it's first
born. It's unsteady and it won't stay near its mother, you know,
and it's all it wants to do is nurse and it's just stay right
by her side. And all of a sudden, you know,
gets to feeling good and eating a little nip in that little grass
and all that and gets his legs on it. And then. I can run. And then, buddy, you're going
to get in trouble. That's the terrible twos of children. We've got to keep a constant
eye on them. And our wanderings, how do we get into that? And
our wanderings, don't we? Terrible twos spiritually, running
into all sorts of trouble, like as a father headed his children. He knows our brain. Running into
all sorts of trouble. And I love them. They're probably
my favorite story in the Scripture. at least tonight, is that prodigal
son. And that boy, you know, was out
in the hog pen and got himself in all his troubles he got himself
into. He just listened to his father,
but he didn't. And he's out there in the hog pen, didn't know how
bad off he was, really, until the Lord brought him to himself
and made him have longings to go back to the Father and repent,
repentance toward the Father. And it says he headed back. And
what's the rest of the story? It says when the father saw him
alone. The father saw him before he saw the father. What's it
say? It says the father ran. Who ran? Who ran? The father
ran. And the father fell on his neck. The father fell on his neck.
And the father kissed him. And the father said, bring the
best robe. And the father said, bring the
ring. And the boy was trying to get his little confession
out before he could get a word out. The father said, bring the
fatted calf. And the father said, let's have
a party. My son's come on. The father
did it all. The father was waiting to be
gracious, ready to pardon, like as a father pities his children. Any sinners in here? Any particles?
Huh? Strayed a long way off? But you
don't know how far I've gone. He does. He sees. Like as a father pities his children. Isn't this the most wonderful
verse in all the Bible tonight? Oh my, God ready to pardon. And now listen, more than just
felt pity, in closing, more than just feeling, as one of our ex-presidents
used to say, I feel your pain. That doesn't mean a thing, does
it? Huh? Please, next man that says that,
don't elect him. It's not enough to just feel
it, is it? Huh? Is it? To feel it? Feel pity? Not enough. Not enough. More than just felt pity, the
Father in pity relieves us. See, we're born naked, and he
clothes us. Man's the only creature born
on the top side of this earth that needs a covering. And he
clothes us. I may preach on that, Ezekiel
16, Sunday morning. Anybody? Raise your hand. He said, I spread this skirt
over you and covered your nakedness. Naked, and he clothes us for
the righteousness of Christ. Dirty, oh dirty, and he washes
us. How? There is a fountain filled
with blood. Hungry, and he feeds us. Nurses
are scared and it consoles us. Cold. Like as a father, it is just
mourn, those that mourn, it comforts you. Those that are poor. Brother
Marvin, he started this thing way too early. I'm glad you're
here. You're making a good illustration
out of it. Little Little Isabella we were standing we're both standing
over what looking at her Marvin pull out his wallet said here
I'm trying to. Imagine here honey I'm number
one you know he gave her a dollar and I said I can talk that. Gave
it already figured out her net worth could be in the millions. With two men bidding on their
love. For. We're born in this world
with nothing. Nothing. Oh, the unsearchable
riches of Christ. God has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings and heavenly blessings in Christ Jesus. I hadn't seen,
or hadn't heard, and neither have entered into our hearts
the thing that God has prepared for them that love him. And we're
just going to be plum amazed throughout eternity. We're born
into this world just poor as The church mouse, that's what
they call them. We're going to be rich as the Son of God. Join
in. Offended? We already said that,
didn't we? Anybody offends his, they offend
him. And he'll take care of them. There
ain't four sinners in here. Like as a father, he did his
children. So the Lord pities him, them
that fear him. And we'll give it another shot
in a few years, maybe a few more years, maybe we'll do an even
better job. OK, stand with me. Our God, thank you for your word. It is truly a joy and rejoicing
of our hearts and comfort. consolation of our souls. It
is such good news to a sinner, and such blessed, sweet promises
to your children. Thou art our Father. The Lord
Jesus Christ told us to call you our Father. He is our elder
brother, and through this spirit of adoption we can cry unto thee,
Abba. It is a sweet, affectionate, personal term, our Father, which
art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. We've met
here tonight to give thanks and to hear from you. We thank you
for speaking to us through your Word. Thank you for your wonderful,
amazing, and infinite pity. It's in Christ's name we've met
here tonight. Amen. Okay. Thank you. I don't know. I don't know. I
don't know. I'm going to go ahead and get
started. I'm going to go ahead and get started. I think that's a really good
point. I think that's a really good point. I think that's I think it's really important
for us to have these discussions. We have to have a mission and we have to have a goal and
we have to do that. I think it's really important for us to have these discussions
and we have to have a mission and we have to do that. I think
it's really important for us to have these discussions and we have to have a goal and
we have to do that. I think it's really important for us to have these discussions
and we have to have a mission and we have to do that. I think it's really
important for us to have these discussions and we have to have a goal and we have to
do that. I think it's really important for us to have these discussions
and we have to have a mission and we have to do that. I think it's really important
for us to have these discussions and we have to have a goal and we have to do that.
I think it's really important for us to have these discussions and we have
to have these discussions and we have to have these discussions and
we have to have these discussions and we The end. Good.