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, I remember needing this message
back then and I need it even more now. Title and subject,
and this story is about hope for a madman. Hope for a madman. A man, a believer,
who acts like a crazy. I already saw some of you. Need
this look at verse 10 of 1st 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 is. And yet
out of fear. Of all this man named Saul he
runs from him and ends up. Among some other enemies. He runs from one enemy into the midst of others. That's the wrong place to go,
wasn't it? The wrong people to be with. Really, the wrong thing
to do is to run. Proverbs 21, I believe it is,
verse 25, says this, "...the fear of man bringeth a snare."
Now, listen very carefully, OK? The fear of man bringeth a snare. A snare is a trap. Fear of man. If we fear man,
we fear losing the favor of man. If we fear losing the friendships
of man, 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 of God. It brings a snare that he is
will be caught in this trap. And can't get out. Unable to
get out and we'll act badly and will bring reproach on our God
this is what happens today will bring reproach on our God ourselves
and our family and others. The fear of man bring up a snare
if we fear anything or anyone more than God. You will fall into the trap of
fearing everything. You hear that that scripture
finally opened up to my understanding after thinking about a few days. Here man bring up 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 it's only one that can bring you out. You hear that that's
a little mini message. David. Turn with me to Psalm
56, Psalm 56. David 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 song
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. 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 this
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 four, 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 is 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, 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? Made a good resolve, didn't he?
Lord, everybody else will leave you. I won't. 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, a 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 against
the fear of the police team because they find him out verse eleven
and not only you know folks not only we are saying find out your
own belief but if if you're a true child of God that'll find you
out to you people know it. It'll leak out on you. It will
they'll know what you believe they believe. And you can prepare
to behave before. become the enemy. They think. Well, the servants of a kish
verse eleven said unto him, King of gap. That's the you know,
that's David there. The king of the land, future
king. The one that they sang about,
uh, uh, advances saying Saul has slain his thousand and David
is ten thousand David laid this up. David heard them talking
about him. He overheard the That's David down there. He's right
in the middle of it. 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 bloomin' 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 who people
knew and they were the ones that people took out their enmity
against and. 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. Isaiah and the Lord
caught old Isaiah Elijah even Elijah you know though he was
bold at one time yet a woman Jezebel had him running for his
life. She said I can't take it anymore. But Elijah, Isaiah,
the Lord caught Isaiah in time, in the mick 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 dark of the terror by 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 faith in
me? 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 did 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 said 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,
OK? Fear of man brings a snare. That's
a message in itself, isn't it? David said, I will not fear.
Well, he did. He should have run to God, shouldn't
he? He should have run from Saul and run 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 Gath. Boy, we'll try to find refuge
in strange places with 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 hand, 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 bloomin' 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 prophesying, 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 man
now. You understand that, don't you, Sheriff? He changes his
behavior, and this is unbelievable. Almost. 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 way. If you think this and that and
wait, just wait to the end. Wait on the Lord. Once everything's
are written for our patience and comfort. that we through
patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. This was written
for our hope this is written for the hope of every believer
who who acts like a madman. And this is also to show us that
every man in his best state is altogether vanity 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. 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.
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 blooming 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 is still
a 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 idle down, this day gone down. And this is also to show us that
our strongest resolve, no matter how good they may seem, promise
to keep. Oh, you know, that sounds OK.
That sounds real pious and all that. 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 kept, 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. The strongest
resolves without the Lord's grace and power are just that. They're
just words. Empty words. Idle 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. David wrote Psalm 56 and 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 and all that, don't we, huh? 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. Say
well David did that. No. And I'll give you an illustration
of that. It 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. He didn't give them a thought.
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 his son. He left
them and that blooming 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's,
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. And 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. 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's
going to be at the right hand of the majesty on high. 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. 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 that, much
worse. I have. And after all this is
over, David headed home. He's headed, we believe that
he headed toward Bethlehem to where his parents were, to go
back home. He's still a young man here.
Eddie's still, he's in his early 20s by now. Young, he heads home. That's where he's headed because
he ends up in a place called Chicum and he asks them, would
you take my mom and dad, you know, because I'm being, they're
out to get me and I want them to be safe. And it was right
near Bethlehem. Well, he heads home and on the
way home is where he stops in that cave. But before he gets there he sits
down somewhere on a rock maybe and writes psalm thirty four. He's he's out again out of harm's
way the Lord has been merciful to him now with me. Oh you madman out there say with
me. He's the Lord's had mercy on
the Lord spared him and he's sitting on a rock is reflecting
on his foolishness craziness is seeing his reproach of God
and his fear that needless fear and he sits down and writes this
blessed song song thirty four and he began by saying I will
bless the Lord at all. 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? It's a shame 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 one for boasting, David. All
your strength, health, hope, salvation, mercy, grace, everything
is in me. 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 days, 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, and 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, salvations of the Lord. It's of the Lord's mercies that
you're not concerned. David, you're a son of Jacob. He'd 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. That's so technical. Now he knows.
Now I've got to run to the Lord. My soul, he says, shall boast
in the Lord. And you know, the subtitle of
this message... Like a fool. Acts crazy. Acts like the world and so forth.
And the subtitle, then, is the humble shall hear and they'll
be glad. Everyone in here. God's people, that is, who have
been broken hearted 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? Huh? They're going to hear of this
future king, David, this great man. Taken a terrible fall, and
if you fall, where does that leave me? You know, we say, well, if he'll
fall, isn't there no hope for me? This is the whole point,
Brenda. You say, 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. God who promised and cannot lie,
cannot fail. 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 this?
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.
God wrote that story of Abraham, scared to death. Twice. Aren't you glad? The humble here
be 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 going
to lay the top stone. This is not just doctrine. This
is salvation! Jeroboam, who has 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. Jeroboam! Jesus Christ! Except he built the house. I'm
laboring in vain this morning. You're in vain here." And he
says, I'll build it. And the gates of hell will not
prevail against it. I'm the sure foundation. And
he's going to lay that top stone, and we're all going to be there
with shouts of grace. Grace, I tell you. I said it was by grace. I didn't
know what I was talking about. I said I believed grace, but
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. I'm going to sing forever
now. 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. That's what we all say the same
way. Same way from a king to a beggar. Same way from Abraham to Mary
Magdalene. The same Lord holds up Abraham. This is the best news you've
ever heard. Not if you're self-righteous.
Not if you, you know, 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 for a bright future. 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. He said, I know him and by his
knowledge. I'm justifying that. So he says
in verse three, Oh, 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, you know, I'm shouting,
you want to, I can, so I am. Right? I can sing. I think, I kind of think right
now, and sometimes you're glad I do this because you want to.
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. 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. We're not going to do it. Time has come to wield
the sword. That's what you want me to do.
Tell them, preachers, 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? Huh? 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 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. If they
had, they wouldn't be doing what they're doing. Wouldn't be acting
like they're acting. David, if he'd heard the Lord
really, he wouldn't have acted like an idiot. He wouldn't have
done this. 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 Tom. He's slow
to anger, slow to wrath. 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. The love of God, the 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, oh, 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 that. And David said in verse 4, I
sought the Lord and he heard me. He 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, Dad.
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. I was going to have you turn
to Psalm 107 and read all those again. Kelly 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? 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 it out. He
hears them. Four times. They keep bringing
it up. They up and down. They cry. He hears them. Saves
them, delivers them. Everything's fine now. No. They're
still sadder. They get down. The Lord brings
them down and they bring upon themselves all the trouble. They
bring it on themselves, all this trouble, and they cry on it.
He hears them and 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 centers will
hear thereof and be glad and it says they too they verse five
they look to him. They look to him everyone and
we're like faces we're not ashamed. And one of every one every board
broken down centers ever looked to the Lord for mercy and grace
has found has gone away. Every person who goes to the
Lord Jesus Christ totally ashamed of themselves will come away. 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 a
shame 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. Young lady and this has happened
countless times. Young lady and their daughter
found herself with child out of wedlock. No husband. Incidentally do you
know that today forty percent 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. God's mercy. There are several children in
our Lord's line out of wedlock. He's numbered with a transgressor. His family, Nancy, Tamar, Rahab,
A bunch of harlots in his family, his family tree. He wouldn't
show that in yours, which he did. Aren't you glad? Aren't
you glad? Anyway, this young lady, and
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 cried, 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
has to. You need a God like that. Who's ready to pardon. Who's
more ready to receive than we are to ask him. That's our God. Back as a father, pity of his
children. Now if you're one of these, I've
never done that, never would do that, you won't get me. 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. But 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 and go away. That young girl went
away. Everything's going to be all
right. Dad. Dad will take care of it. And still is. That's a good illustration of
our God. I've got a better one. 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'd never been any lower than that. He'd
become just like those people sitting around a fire. He'd cuss.
He 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 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 to the Lord. What did he hear from the Lord?
Well, he went away lightened. His burden was lifted. He went away vitally joined again
to the Bible. Trust him in the Lord. That's
all there is to it. He couldn't hear a better, more
comforting or vital message, young and old, male and female.
He couldn't hear better than this. None of them to trust and
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 know that. That good. All right. Gabriel David, we've got a good
night. David. I'm late. Let's sing hymn number
10. Stand together. We'll sing the
first, third and fifth verses. Him number 10. Oh God, our help in ages past
Our hope for years to come Our shelter from the stormy blast
And our eternal home Before the hills in order stood For earth
we see proclaim From everlasting thou art God To endless years
us sing O God, our help in ages past Our hope for years to come
Be Thou our guide while life shall last, and our eternal home.