Now go with me to 1 Samuel 21. 1 Samuel chapter 21. It's been
nearly six years since we looked at this. I thought it was yesterday
after I read it again. But I remember needing this message
back then, and I need it even more now. The title and the subject,
and this story is about hope for a madman. Hope for a madman. A man, a believer, who acts like
a crazy fellow. I already saw some of you need
this. Look at verse 10 of 1 Samuel
21. David arose and fled that day
for fear of Saul and went to Achish, the king of Gath. David was one of God's elect,
one of God's children. No doubt about that. And yet,
out of fear of Saul, this man named Saul, he runs from him
and ends up among some other enemies in Gath. He runs from one enemy into the midst of others. That's the wrong place to go. wrong people to be with, and
really the wrong thing to do is run. Proverbs 21, I believe
it is verse 25, says this, the fear of man bringeth a snare. Now listen very carefully, okay?
The fear of man bringeth a snare. A snare is a trap. Fear of man. If we fear man,
If we fear losing the favor of man, if we fear losing the friendships
of man, if we fear losing the honor and applause of man, if
we fear persecution of man, if we fear the wrath of man, if
we fear the reprisals and reproaches of man rather than fear God, It brings a snare, that is, we'll
be caught in this trap and can't get out, unable to get out. And we'll act badly and we'll
bring reproach on our God. This is what happens today. We'll
bring reproach on our God, ourselves and our family and others. The
fear of man bringeth a snare. If we fear anything or anyone
more than God, you will fall into the trap of
fearing everything. Did you hear that? That scripture
finally opened up to my understanding after thinking about it for a
few days. Fear of man bringeth a snare.
If we fear anything or anyone, anything, disease, anything more than God,
will fall into the trap of fearing everything and everyone. And it's a hard trap to get out
of. There's only one that can bring
you out. Did you hear that? That's a little mini message
there. David, turn with me to Psalm
56. Psalm 56. is a writer. David was a writer
and a musician. And he wrote this psalm, Psalm
56, when he came to Gath, when he came to this city called Gath. You'll see that under the title,
when the Philistines took him in. Gath. And he wrote this psalm
when he came here. Perhaps he began to feel guilty
about running from Saul, about playing the coward. It wasn't
too long before that he stood before Goliath, of whom Saul
was afraid. And yet David, in the strength
of the Lord. You remember how, why was David
courageous before? He said, I come in the name of
God. Well, perhaps he begins to feel guilty
about running from Saul, playing the coward, and he writes this.
Psalm. He gets to Gath, he gets to the
city, and he writes this psalm. Look at verses 1 through 4. Be
merciful unto me, O God, for man would swallow me up. He's
thinking about Saul, I'm sure. He's fighting daily, oppresseth
me. My enemies would daily swallow me up. They be many that fight
against me, O Thou Most High. What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee. In God, verse 4. I will praise
his word. You see where his trust, his
hope, his defense, his strength, his offense. In God have I put
my trust. I will not fear what flesh can
do unto me. From now on, I'm not going to
be afraid. Well, that's a good resolve,
David. But here's what you should have
said. The Lord willing. I will not
fear. Are you with me here? He wrote
this when he got there. Look at verse 11. He said, In
God have I put my trust. I will not be afraid what man
can do unto me. If you look at all of this, is
Christ himself speaking? Yes. He did not fear. No fear whatsoever. I wish as he is so would I be
right now, don't you? But this is David. David did
write this and David is saying, in the strength of the flesh,
he's saying, I will not fear. Well, he did. It was a good resolve, wasn't
it? Peter made a good resolve, didn't
he? Lord, everybody else will leave
you. I won't. And he meant well. But it didn't
turn out well. It did turn out well. But he
had to be brought way down, didn't he, to see himself. Well, he
had good resolve. But now remember, remember, the
fear of man bringeth a snare. Remember that verse. David was
running from Saul to Gath, and he wrote this psalm. But then
he begins to think about where he is, who he's with. These people know me. Back there
in our text, so go back to 1 Samuel 21. He begins to fear the Philistines
because they find him out. Verse 11, not only will your
sin find you out, your unbelief, but you If you're a true child
of God, that'll find you out too. People will know it. It'll
leak out on you. It will. They'll know what you
believe. And you can prepare to be hated
for it. Become the enemy, they think. Well, the servants of Achish,
verse 11, said unto him, the king of Gath. Do you know that's
David there? The king of the land? The future
king? The one that they sang about
in dances, saying, Saul has slain his thousand and David his ten
thousand. David heard them talking about
him. He overheard them. That's David
down there. He's right in the middle of them.
David laid up these words in his heart and it says he was
sore afraid. Now he was afraid of Saul, and
now he's more afraid of Achish than Saul. You see, the fear
of man. Bring up the snare. And now he's more afraid than
he was in the beginning. And Deborah, he gets in a mess.
He acts like a blooming idiot. That's the story here. Oh, Isaiah. And listen, I know a little bit
about this. The prophets of old were one
man basically against many. You know, their names were who
people knew, and they were the ones that people took out their
enmity against. And Isaiah, Jeremiah was a young
man. He didn't want to go out there. Moses didn't want to go
out there. He didn't want to face everybody. And the Lord
caught old Isaiah. Even Elijah, you know, though
he was bold at one time, yet a woman, Jezebel, had him running
for his life. He said, I can't take it anymore.
But Isaiah, the Lord caught Isaiah in time, in the nick of time,
and said, Isaiah, who art thou that thou shouldst be afraid
of a man, a worm that shall die? You fear me. Don't be afraid
of anybody. So, don't be afraid of anything. Fear the Lord. Trust the Lord.
the terror at night. Don't be afraid of the pestilence.
Don't be afraid of the plague. If God's going to send something
to get you, it's going to get you into heaven. It's going to
get you. You're not going to see it coming. There's nothing
you can do about it. Right? Microscopic germ will kill you.
Well, then what do we need to do? Live in a vacuum. I wound I kill. Don't be afraid of things. Fear
me. The fear of man and things brings
a snare. You'll be listening to everybody
and everything, and you'll be afraid of anybody and everything.
Don't do that. Trust in the Lord. You say that,
do it. Commit your family, your children,
yourself, your soul, everything unto the Lord and rest. The Lord kept reminding His disciples,
why are you so little paid? Didn't He? The Lord kept proving Himself
and proving Himself and proving Himself and proving Himself and
supplying and supplying and supplying and providing and protecting
and providing and protecting. What'd they do? And like any parent would do,
you know, good father, don't you trust me? What have I done to this point
to cause you not to trust me? I've done everything to cause
you to trust me. And know this, whatever befalls
you, the Lord sent it. And He said, who cannot lie,
it's good, Barbara, it's good. He can't lie. And if it comes
your way, He sent it and it will be good. And you'll end up in
the end thanking Him for it. So don't murmur and complain
in the meantime. Don't whine. And you remind me
of that later, okay? Fear of man brings a snare. That's
a message in itself, isn't it? David says, I will not fear.
Well, he did. He should have run to God, shouldn't
he? Running from Saul and running to Gath. Why? He should have run to the Lord
and just run to his closet or something. He shouldn't have
been running from Saul, period. And he ran to gaff. Boy, we'll try to find refuge
in strange places, strange bedfellows, strange people. And look at this. This is unbelievable. David was
sore afraid. In verse 13, he changed his behavior
before them, that is, these ungodly people. You see, David is a believer. David is a godly man. David is
a man after God's own heart. He is a believer. He's a sane
man. He's a man in his right mind.
He has a mind of Christ. Christ is in him. But his normal behavior was a
man of God. But he changed his behavior,
and verse 12 says, He feigned himself mad, that is crazy, in
their hands. Scratched on the doors of the
gate, spit fell down upon his beard. Can you believe this is happening? Yeah, I can too. The honest people
in here said yes. Because we've all done it. And
we'll do it again. Act like a blooming idiot. Act
like we don't even know the Lord. Act like we don't have good sense.
Act like a reprobate. Act like... Now here's the difference.
David was not a reprobate. He's a child of God. His normal
behavior was believing and trusting and upright and righteous and
so forth. But now he acts like an idiot. A crazy man. Now there are people who are
crazy, who are reprobate, who are blooming idiots and madmen,
and they sometimes act like sane people. And that throws us off.
We think, well, maybe he, like Saul, you know, Saul all of a
sudden started to prophesy. Well, maybe he's not crazy after
all. Yeah, he is. He's just, the Lord
just restrained him for a little while. So here's the difference. You
see, you see, David's a new person, but he begins to act like a madman.
You understand that, don't you, Sheriff? He changes behavior,
and this is unbelievable, but no, it's not. David's a man. It shouldn't surprise us if any
man does anything. It shouldn't. It should greatly
disappoint us and grieve us and make us fear, because we're men,
but it shouldn't surprise us. Unbelievable? No. Unbecoming? Yes. Unacceptable behavior? Yes, that's right. It's unacceptable.
Inexcusable? Yes. It's inexcusable. We can explain why he did that.
He's a man. But excuse it? No. God doesn't
excuse it. God doesn't excuse it. Why did
this happen? Why is this recorded? Aren't you glad it did? Well, here's a few things why
this happened. Scripture says all things, whatsoever
things are written are written for our learning, that we through
patience and comfort of Scripture. Patience means wait. Just wait.
You think this is bad, wait. If you think this and that, wait. Just wait to the end. Wait on the Lord. Whatsoever
things are written for our patience and comfort, that we through
patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. This is written
for our hope. This is written for the hope
of every believer who acts like a madman. Every now and then. And this is also to show us that
every man at his best state is altogether bandited. David was
the best. He's the best man around right now. He's the best man
on earth at this time, sir. He's the best man there is. He's
the best there is. There's nobody like him in all
of Israel. David. Well, look at him now. There's one man who ever lived.
This is the reason we're going to see in a minute. Don't boast
of yourself. Don't boast of any man. Don't
boast of anything. There's one person. Let him boast
in the Lord. There's one man who ever walked
this planet, one man who ever walked this planet that God said
from heaven, now I'm well pleased with this man. Even his enemies
said, there's a man. Don't look up to, young people,
don't look up to these stars. Oh, they're falling stars. They're
all going to come like Lucifer, shooting to the ground. The Lord's
going to reveal every one of those booming idiots for what
they are. Don't look up to these athletes.
They're the scum of the earth. Don't look up to anybody or anybody
or anything. Don't do it. Don't fall into
that. Let me speak real calmly. You know, a loud voice, a still
small voice, don't look up to any person but Jesus Christ. Don't try to be like any person. But Jesus Christ. Every man. The strongest of men
are helpless. Helpless. And if we begin to
trust a man or whoever, whatever, the Lord is going to, and if
we're one of His, the Lord's going to show us that. He's going
to do it. He's going to knock out. He's
going to bring this person, this idol down. This Dagon down. And this is also to show us that
our strongest resolve, no matter how good they may seem, promise
keeper. Oh, you know, that sounds OK.
That sounds real pious and all that, but like a bunch of broken cisterns
trying to fill each other up. That's what that is. Go to the
fountain. Go to the source. You don't need
to go to a promise keeper's meeting. Go to him who did keep all the
promises. In whom are all the promises
of God are yea, and amen, and sure, and certain, who cannot
break one of them. Go to him. Like David should
have, shouldn't he? The strongest resolves without
the Lord's grace and power are just that. They're just words.
Empty words. Out of words. And here's the
reason why this happened. In order for us to have Psalm
34. Now go there. Psalm 34. This
happened in order for David to write Psalm 34 and for you and
I to read it and take great hope and peace and comfort from it.
That's why this happened. See, David wrote Psalm 56 when
he first got there, and then he acts like a madman. He just
goes crazy. And oh, he makes a fool out of
his God? That's what happens. You know
that when we act like an idiot, we bring reproach upon our God. We make a fool out of the God
we say is keeping us from all that, don't we, huh? And we make
a fool out of ourselves, our families, the church, everybody. And as I said before, this is
not written to excuse us, but to comfort us. And only a reprobate
man will use this as an excuse to justify his sins or his behavior. Only a reprobate evil person
would use something like this to excuse their behavior and
say, well, David did it. And I'll give you an illustration
of that. There was a young man years ago who had a wife and
three darling children, just beautiful, blonde-headed children,
oldest of which was only about nine years old, a preacher, a
sovereign grace preacher. I knew him well. He was in my
home. He had his whole family in my home. I heard him preach
many times. He's older than me. a friend
of all our brethren, and I thought he was a fine fellow and all
that. Well, he fell in love with some red-headed girl and left
his wife and his children. Just left them. Just left them. Didn't give them a thought. And
I know his wife. I knew her well. I knew those children. They were
shattered, as you can imagine. Shattered! Those children will
never recover. Never. Never did sign. He left
them and that bloomin' idiot, that reprobate son of Belial
said to one of our brethren who warned him at the time, don't
do this, don't do this, don't do this. He said, well I'll just get in
line with David. He got in line with Cain's who
he got in line with. He got in line with Esau's who
he got in line with. He got in line with Judas' who
he got in line with. Not David. David's heart was
pricked by God. David repented. David turned.
David! The Lord broke his heart over
it. Not the consequences, the sin in him that made him do it.
He wrote Psalm 51, you know. Oh, Lord, keep me from excusing
myself. Now, after all this was over,
after David plays this madman, after he left Gath, the Lord
moves in a mysterious way. Did he have to act like this
for the Lord to save him? Of course not. This was for our sake. This was for David's sake to
bring him way down. Pretty soon, David's going to
be at the highest pinnacle that man can go on the throne of Israel. Before you go high, boy, you've
got to be brought way low. Way low. You know, anybody that's
going to be at the right hand of the majesty on high and be
enthroned with Christ is going to be seated with him in the
heavenlies, you've got to start real low. You've got to know that you're
a blooming idiot. And if the Lord doesn't have
mercy on you, that's where it starts, doesn't
it? So David is going to start this ascension to the throne
real low. Do you think he was ashamed of
this? Are you? You're ashamed to read
that about David, aren't you? We've done worse than he has,
much worse. I have. And after all this is over, David
headed home. He's headed, we believe that
he's headed toward Bethlehem to where his parents were and
go back home. He's still a young man here.
He's in his early 20's by now. He heads home. That's where he's
headed. Because he ends up in a place
called Shechem and he asks them, would you take my mom and dad?
Because they're out to get me and I want them to be safe. It
was right near Bethlehem. Well, he heads home and on the
way home, is where he stops in that cave. Admirable. But before he gets
there, he sits down somewhere, on a rock maybe, and writes Psalm
34. He's out of gasp, out of harm's
way. The Lord has been merciful to
him. Come on now, with me. Come, come. Oh, you madmen out there, come
on. Stay with me. The Lord's had mercy on him,
the Lord's spared him, and he's sitting on a rock, he's reflecting
on his foolishness, his craziness, his sin, his reproach on God,
and his fear, needless fear, and he sits down and writes this
blessed, blessed psalm. Psalm 34, and he begins by saying,
I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually
be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast
in the Lord, and the humble will hear thereof and be glad. My soul will boast. David before
this could have said, I killed Goliath. I did this, I did that. Now what's he got to boast in?
There's no room for boasting now, is there? David is an absolute
idiot. David is a sinner. David is as
low as he can go. David is absolutely and utterly
ashamed of himself. How could I be a believer and
act like that? How could I have done that? How could I have brought
reproach? Why didn't I believe the Lord? Why, why, why, why?
He's down as low as he could go. You call yourself a king? He's ashamed of himself. Why did I allow myself to act
like that, do that? How, how, how, how? The Lord,
in mercy and grace, speaks to his heart, because you're a sinner. That all men may know themselves
to be but men. That's why. No room for boasting, David.
All your strength, help, hope, salvation, mercy, grace, everything
is in me. You don't run to this king, that
king. You don't trust in horses. You
don't trust in Egypt. You don't trust in David. You
trusted me before. You get a little older, you're
going to have to trust me now. And in your old age, your hoary
head, you're going to have to trust me then more than ever
before. I am your Lord. You wrote it
as a shepherd, a young boy, in all your strength and zeal and
all that, that the Lord is your shepherd. Well, now I'm still
your shepherd. And if you veer away from that
for one moment, I'm going to let you fall, greatly fall. David, salvation's of the Lord. David, it's of the Lord's mercies
that you're not concerned. David, you're a son of Jacob. You bear the title of king I
gave you, but David, you're just a son of Jacob. And your hope,
your strength, your salvation, all your comfort is in me. Don't
trust in anything, anybody, but me. So David, now he knows. I've
got to run to the Lord. My soul, he says, shall boast
in the Lord. And you know that the subtitle
of this message is, that the title is, Hope for a Madman. This is the hope of every madman.
Every believer, it acts like an unbeliever. Fool. Acts crazy. Acts like the world
and so forth. And the subtitle, Dan, is, the
humble shall hear and they'll be glad. Everyone in here. God's people, that is, who have
been brokenhearted and guilty and ashamed sinners. That's what
humble means. They're going to hear this story.
They're going to hear this story and they'll be glad. Aren't you
glad God wrote this story? Aren't you glad to be hearing
this this morning? They're going to hear of this future king,
David, this great man, taking a terrible fall. And if he'll
fall, where does that leave me? You know, we say, well, if he'll
fall, isn't there no hope for me? Oh, this is the whole point,
Brenda. If he falls, what's his hope? What's his hope? Then there's
hope for me. My hope. What's his hope? The mercy, the grace, the goodness,
the covenant keeping God. A God who promised and cannot
lie, cannot fail. A God who holds him up, holds
me up. And they're going to hear this
and they're going to be glad. They're going to be glad. Aren't
you glad God wrote that? Aren't you glad God exposed the
sins of all these people, huh? Or else you'd think, Jeanette,
you'd think, I'm not like Abraham. I'll never be like Abraham. I
wish I had the faith of Abraham. No, God wrote that story of Abraham
scared to death. Twice! Aren't you glad? The humble hear me glad. I'm
also glad God wrote that. Aren't you? Huh? Aren't you glad
God allowed all this to happen to show us that we're all saved
the same way? We're all saved the same way.
How? Grace. Those irrevocables are
going to lay the top stone. This is not just doctrine. This
is salvation. Zerubbabel, who is Christ Himself,
is going to lay after the whole building and every stone's in
it, and all the children are there. We're all standing there
just overjoyed and can't believe I'm here. And he's going to say,
I told you, it's my grace. Somebody say amen to that. Zerubbabel, Jesus Christ, except
he built the house. I'm laboring in vain this morning.
You are in vain here. And he says, I built it. And
the gates of hell will not prevail against it. I am the sure foundation. And he is going to lay that top
stone and we are all going to be there with shouts of grace. Grace unto us. Well, I said it
was by grace. I didn't know what I was talking
about. I said I believed grace. I really didn't believe grace.
Now I know that the Lord saved us. Now I know with all my heart,
mind, soul, and strength that I was saved by the sovereign
grace of God that's in Him, Jesus Christ my Lord. I'm going to
sing forever now. From the top of my lungs, I've
never sung it before because I didn't have a clue. I'm going
to sing it from the depths of my heart, out of the abundance
of my heart. I'm going to sing the loudest.
Amazing grace. Amazing grace. That's why this
happens. We all say the same way. Same
way. From a king to a beggar. Same
what? From Abraham to Mary Magdalene. By grace. The same Lord holds
up Abraham, holds up Mary. This is the best news you've
ever heard, huh? Not if you're self-righteous. Not if you've got some strength
still left in you. He saveth such as be without
strength. He saveth the poor and needy.
He saveth the helpless. He saveth the hopeless. Those
that are hopeless have the most sure hope, yea, a good hope through
grace. Is all your hope in Christ? Not in what you know? You hear
me? You hear me? I know what I believe. That's not what Paul said. Did
he? He said, I know him. And by his
knowledge. So he says in verse 3, O magnify
the Lord with me, would you? Let us exalt his name together.
I'm your spokesman up here, and some of you obviously are enjoying
this. So I'm shouting, you want to,
I can, so I am. Right? I can sing. I kind of
think right now, and sometimes you're glad I do this because
you want to, don't you? Wesley, you tell me that all
the time. Don't apologize for hollering because that's what
you want to do, don't you? People come and hear it, and
you want them to hear it, hear it, hear it. Get on the radio. You want me to tell it like it
is, don't you? I'm your spokesman. I'm going to do it. Time is short. The time is short. Don't mealy-mouth
around and call a bunch of hell-bound sinners and try to appease them
and make, like Barnard said, make them happy on the road to
hell. Don't. I'm not going to do it. Time
to come to wield the sword. That's what you want me to do.
Preacher, that's what I heard. I never heard a man growing up
that didn't holler at me. Never! They all did. Why? Because I'm so thick-headed,
that's why. God said that. Lift up your voice. Did you ever holler at your children?
Did you ever raise your voice? You ain't much of a parent. Either
they're a perfect child or you ain't much of a parent. Huh? And they think, what are you
hollering at me for? Well, if you'd listen, I wouldn't have
to. Huh? Listen. And I preach to people
all the time. I've been hearing this for years,
and they're not hearing it. My dad, my pastor said that's
the problem with so many people. They're not listening. They have
ears to hear. Our Lord said this time and again.
Having ears to hear. They're not hearing it. They're
not hearing it. If they had, they wouldn't be doing what they're
doing. David, if he had heard the Lord, really, he wouldn't
have acted like an idiot. He wouldn't have done this. He
wouldn't have done that. Aren't you glad that God wrote
that? He says, let us magnify. the
Lord together, exalt his name together. I can sing with David
of the mercy of the Lord. Can you? I can sing with Jacob of old of
my unchangeable Lord. My hope is in my God that doesn't
change. Robin, I change. You know, I'll be going along
just smooth as silk, and then I'll turn into a madman. What's
my hope? That he changes his mind. He's
slow to anger, slow to anger. That's your hope. I can sing
with Peter, who's up one day and down the next. Peter who's
strong one day and just a cussing sailor the next. I
can sing and say with Peter, talk about the faithfulness of
my Lord. Peter started out, 1 Peter 1,
he starts it out. Oh, elect, beloved of God, elect
of God. And he starts out by saying,
we're kept by the power of God. He wouldn't have known that,
Charles, if he hadn't denied the Lord and fell like he did.
He wouldn't have known that. That wouldn't have meant anything
to him. And so he writes to all, and I can sing with Peter that
I am kept. I have been, am now, and will
always be kept by the power of God. If I'm kept, God's going
to have to keep me. And David said in verse 4, I
sought the Lord, He heard me, delivered me. Who's this talking
now? This is a madman. This is an
old sinner talking. This is a shame fellow. Not the king talking here, Dan.
This is a poor excuse for a man. He said
in verse 6, this poor man, that's what he's saying, this poor excuse
for a man cried. And the Lord heard him. Skelly, I was going to have you
turn to Psalm 107 and read all those again. And Caleb says,
OK, but you know those verses, don't you? You know in my heart,
how many times do you turn there? Do you ever get tired of hearing
them? Huh? I'll tell you who gets tired of hearing them. It's
the person that doesn't. Scripture says, because they
have no changes, they don't fear the Lord. That's what the Scripture
says. But a man who has some madness, like the children of
Israel, they get down, get down, and then they cry, and he hears
them. Four times it keeps bringing it up. They up and down. They
cry. He hears them. Saves them. Delivers
them. Everything's fine now. No. They're
still centered. They get down. The Lord brings
them down and they bring upon themselves all the trouble. They
bring it on themselves, all this trouble, but, and they cry on
it. He hears them. Delivers them. Again. Again! Yes, again. Again. And again. And again. And again. and again. That's his name. David says, the Lord heard me,
and the humble shall hear thereof and be glad. All sinners will
hear thereof and be glad. And it says, they too, they,
verse 5, they looked to him, they looked to him, every one
of them, and were lightened. Their faces were not ashamed. Oh, man. Every one of them. Every poor, broken down sinner
that has ever looked to the Lord for mercy and grace has found
it. Has gone away. Not ashamed. Every person who goes to the
Lord Jesus Christ totally ashamed of themselves will come away
not ashamed. That's what kind of Lord He is.
Like the woman caught in the act. And the Lord catches us
in the act every day. And, you know, she was just ashamed
before God and men, but her kind Savior. lifted her up. She went home happy. She went
home joyful. She went home at peace. I'll
give you a good illustration of that. A young lady, and this has happened
countless times, a young lady, a man's dear daughter, found
herself with child out of wedlock. No husband. Incidentally, do
you know that today 40% of children are born out of wedlock in the
United States? That's incredible. This thing's gone. It's gone.
It's gone. But God's merciful still. He
has a remnant. But anyway, this young lady,
as so many have, found herself with a child. I believe this
young girl was a believer. Can that happen to a believer? Absolutely. Absolutely. Will
it bring terrible consequences? Absolutely. The rest of her life, you know,
she'll be experiencing some of the bad fallout from that. But
God's merciful. There are several children in
our Lord's line out of wedlock. He's numbered with the transgressors. His family. Nancy, Tamar, Rahab,
a bunch of harlots in his family. His family tree. He wouldn't
show that in yours, would he? He did. Aren't you glad? Aren't
you glad? Anyway, this young lady tried to cover it up, but it
doesn't work. It won't work. And she finally just had to,
she went to her daddy, her father, who knoweth her frame. How? Because he was flesh and
blood, a young person. And she crawled up in her daddy's
lap. So ashamed. Brought reproach
on what I believed. Brought reproach on my family,
myself. Oh, daddy, will you ever forgive
me? He already had before she even
asked. You need a God like that, huh? Who's ready to pardon. Who's
more ready to receive than we are to ask Him, huh? That's our
God. Like as a father pitieth his
children. Now, if you're one of these,
I've never done that, never will do that. You won't get... You're
going to be cast into outer darkness. But every sinner None of those. Did you read that with me? None
of those that trust in Him. Who? Well, look at her. She's
bad as it comes. None of them that trust Him. Chief of sinners?
Yeah. Paul said, look at me. I came to Him. I flowed to Him.
All those that flow to Him go away. If that young girl went
away, everything's going to be alright, isn't it? Bad. Dad will
take care of it. He still is. He still is. That's a good illustration
of our God. I've got a better one. Have you
got time? I've got a better one. Old Peter. A biblical one. Peter. He was ashamed to be called
a disciple, ashamed to be called an apostle, ashamed to be called
a believer. He had no hope. He had no assurance. He had no
anything. He was as low as he could get
ever in his life. He would never be any lower than that. He had
become just like those people sitting around the fire. He had
cussed. He had denied the Lord. He thought to himself, I am not
a believer. There's no way I could be one
of the Lord's disciples. No way. But buddy, one day, and
he left. He quit. He went fishing. And
one day, he looked. John, he looked. And lo and behold,
there was his Lord on yonder shore. And he couldn't get to
him fast enough. He was the first one in the water.
The first one, the Lord. What did he hear from the Lord?
That he went away lightened. His burden was lifted. He went away vitally joined again
to the body. Trusting in the Lord is all he's
trusting. He couldn't hear a better, more
comforting and vital message. Young and old, male and female.
He couldn't hear better than this. None of them that trust
in the Lord shall be ashamed. You're going to be ashamed of
yourself all your days. You're going to do things you
wish you hadn't. You shouldn't. I warn you, like
John said, little children, don't sin. Don't do it. Don't do it.
But if any, when you do, You've got to advocate. You've got to
advocate. Is that good enough? All right. Gabriel David, boy, you've got
a good name. David. Come lead us in a hymn. Let's sing hymn number 10, Stand
Together. Let's sing the first, third,
and fifth verses.