Thank you. Go back with me now to Psalm
115. Psalm 115. Let's read verses
9 through 11 again. Psalm 115, verses 9 through 11. O Israel, trust thou in the Lord. He is their help and their shield.
O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield.
Ye that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord. He is their help
and their shield. We have looked at this psalm
many times together. Usually we dwell on the first
verse. part of the first half of this
psalm, but today I want us to look at the whole psalm and dwell
mostly on the second half of this psalm. It ends this way
in verse 18. Praise the Lord. Have you ever
noticed how many times it says that throughout the psalms and
the rest of Scripture, but particularly the psalms? The Psalms begin, many of them
begin and end with this, praise the Lord. And that is why we
are here this morning. That's why we're here. That's
what this thing of worship is all about. You ask me what is
worship? It's praising the Lord. Praise means to give honor to
Him. Praise means to give all credit to Him. Give all due. Praise means to extol, to lift
up, to bless, to worship. It says, praise the Lord. It's unto the Lord. That's why
we come here. Verse 1 says, not unto us. Verse
1, not unto us, O Lord. Not unto us. This is not all
about us. We don't come here. It's not about us. If you'll
notice, religion is mostly about and what the Lord can do for
you, and this is our ministry for you. This is not about us. We come here, it's not about
us. It's not unto us. It's not for us, by us, through
us, to us, about us. It's unto him. Not unto us, O
Lord, but unto thy name give glory. Unto thy name. Through worshipers, worship in
His name. That means Lord. They worship
Him, the Lord. You really won't worship until
you know that He is Lord. We're going to see that in a
moment. God. Hear, oh Israel, the Lord, our
God is one Lord. He is God. God. Christ. We've come to worship Christ
because He is. He is Christ. He really is our
Savior, God our Savior. Give glory, all credit and honor
to. That's why, and the chief reason
being, for thy mercy and thy truth's sake. For thy mercy. See, it's of the
Lord's mercies that we're not consumed. It's of the Lord's mercies that
we're not consumed. Salvation is the sovereign mercy
of God. to hell-deserving sinners. That's
what salvation is all about. That's why we're not in hell
right now. It is. That's why this world has not
been yet destroyed, because God is merciful. And He will yet
show mercy to some more of His people. And the truth. The truth is God's Word, isn't
it? All of God's Word makes up the truth. The truth which tells
us When you learn the truth, when God shows you the truth,
when God reveals the truth, you'll hear it from God's Word, won't
you? You'll know that God's Word is truth. And this is what you'll
hear. This is the first truth you'll
hear. I'm saved by the mercy of God. The mercy of God which
is in Christ our Lord. Christ is the truth. See, that's why we come here.
We come to praise the Lord for his mercy and his truth, which is Christ himself, personified. The mercy of God, personified,
is God's Son. You see, mercy, and this is probably
the best definition of mercy. Mercy is not getting what we
deserve. Mercy is being spared what we really deserve. wrath, punishment, death, hell. But God spared some. Amen. God spared or showed mercy unto
his people. Why? Because he spared not his
own son. He showed him no mercy. And Christ
was the substitute. Christ bore the wrath of. the
hail of, the death of his people. That's why. Why does God show
mercy upon us? Because he spared not. He showed
no mercy to his son. His son got what I deserve. And that's the truth. That makes
up the whole gospel. God made him to be sin for us.
And so we praise God. We say, not unto us, this whole
service, what this is about. both now and forever, is praise
unto the Lord for his mercy and his truth. No, not unto us, not
unto us. But for thy name's sake, we praise
you for your mercy and we give glory for your mercy and your
truth. Then God's Word asks this question. Why should the heathen ask about
where God is? Verse 2. Why should the heathen
say, Where is your God? Where is this God you're talking
about, this God that shows mercy and grace, and this God that
you claim to worship? You kind of ask, why would they
ask that question? When the heavens declare His
glory and affirm the day-in-the-day other's feats, night-on-the-night
knowledge, they're without excuse. They should see His eternal power
in God. They ask this. Where is your
God? Where is your God? And here's
the answer from God's Word, verse 3. Here's our God, Israel, Pascha
Aaron, you that fear the Lord, you that know the Lord, you that
worship the Lord in spirit and truth, you that know that it's
of the Lord's mercy that you're not consumed, you that know the
truth as it is in the Lord Jesus Christ, you that know these things,
you that know God and His Christ, here's your answer. Here's our
answer to everyone about your God. Here's our God. We're going
to look at their God. Here's our God. Where is it? Number one, where is it? He said, in the heavens. Now,
I looked that word up, the heavens. Down in verse 16, it says, the
heaven, even the heavens are the Lord. And I was reminded
of a scripture that says the heavens can't contain him. But this is just a word for saying
he's high. Whoever wrote this, we don't
know if it's a David we think it is. God wrote it. As high above the earth as the
heavens are, that's me. Tell us about your God. Where
is He? Where is He not? That's the thing. Where is He
not? Years ago, that imposter Oral
Roberts, you remember, he had a dream. He saw a 900-foot Jesus. His Jesus is way too small. Ours sits on the circle of the
earth. And the heavens can't contain it. As a matter of fact,
I'll tell you how big He is. In Him we live and move and have
our being. A God in whose hands our breath
is. He's going to go on to talk about
their God has no hands, you know, but their hands do. Our God,
where is He? He's in the heavens. He's high,
lofty. What does that mean? Well, what
can He do? What can your God do? And I'll tell you what He has
done. I'm not going to tell you what He can do. I'm going to
tell you what He has done. You've seen this slogan all over
WWJD. What would Jesus do? All that
stuff that people are so fond of. What would Jesus do? I'll
tell you what their Jesus will do. He'll do what they let him
do. But I'll tell you what our God has done. You see, here's
the difference. Known unto our God are all his
works from the beginning. You see, when God said it years
ago, it's done. That's our God. Our God, what has he done? This is what makes God, God,
more than anything else. This is what makes God, God. Isn't it? Whoever has a free
will is God. Whoever's will is done is God.
Whoever does what he will, with whom he will, just because he
will, and no one can stay his hand, that's God. Well, that's
our God. But you're God's, isn't it? You're
a blessed woman. Flesh and blood doesn't reveal
that to you, but your Father which is in heaven." This is
life eternal, that you might know the living and true God.
Who is God? You see, this is what distinguishes
God as God from all these idols. This is what distinguishes and
declares God as He is, as opposed to these man-made gods. He goes
on to describe them. He says the people, they have
their gods. He doesn't even call them gods,
he calls them idols. They're idols, verse 4. They're idols,
he said. An idol is an image. And we get the word image from
the word imagination. You see, they've made up this
god. Everybody's made this god up. These idols that they've
made up, he goes on to describe them, these silver and gold,
these statues, these little figurines, these little images they've made
of their gods, they're man-made gods is what they are. Man-made
gods, small g. They're not gods at all. They
have no power over anything or anyone at all. The ones who made
them have power over them. The ones who made them control
them. That's what some imbecile in our area said in the newspaper.
He said, you control the one that controls you. That's what
he wrote. A conservative Southern Baptist
preacher in this time. Preacher. Imposter said that. You control
the one that controls you. Now, our little children know
that's the most ignorant thing I've ever heard of. If he controls
you, how could you control him? Now, come on now. Now, that's
a man-made God. He goes on to say they have ears
and so forth, hands and so forth. He's making fun of their God.
And he says, now they that make them are like unto them, down
in verse 8. Those that make them and those that trust in them
are just like them. They're blind, deaf and dumb. They're blind, they can't see
God as he really is. They're deaf, they haven't heard
his voice, they haven't heard his word, and they're dumb. They don't talk right. What all they say about God is
a lie. Our God, though, hath done whatsoever
he hath pleased, not what we let him do. We're talking about
God here. But their idols do what these
that made them let them do. And those that put their trust
or their hope or their confidence in them, they must be dead like their
idols. They must be dead. Over in Isaiah
45, the Lord says, Why do they pray unto a God that cannot save? Can't save. I don't know why.
I do know. They're just like they're dead.
like their God. But O Israel, O Israel, O Israel, he says in verse 9,
Israel has always been God's elect, God's chosen people, the
ones that God set his love upon, the sons of Jacob. O sons of
Jacob, O Israel whom I love, whom I have chosen, whom I have
made myself known unto you. O Israel, Trust in the Lord. Trust thou in the Lord. He is
Israel. All Israel. Help and shield. Salvation and protection. Trust. Now this is what I want
to deal with. This thing of trust in the Lord.
But he says it three times there today. Trust in the Lord. Trust
in the Lord. Do you know how many times throughout
the Psalms and the rest of Scripture. He talks about trusting in the
Lord. Trusting in the Lord. Do you know how many times? And this will be good now. May the Lord give us attentive
minds and hearts. The word trust means this. Confidence
in. Put confidence in. hope in. It means to really believe
someone or something, and therefore you put your confidence in, hope
in, you depend upon. Trust means to depend upon. You
trust, so you depend upon. Trust means this too, the go-to
for help. to go to for refuge. There's
an old word I looked up, Wesley, that says high to high for refuge,
H-I-E. It's an old puritanical word,
high for refuge. It means to hurry up and get
there for refuge. Trust needs to be sure of. Whoever,
whatever you trust, you're sure of it. Trust means to be bold
concerning. Whoever, whatever you trust is
what you put your confidence in. He says, O Israel, O those who have been chosen
by God, trust in it. O Aaron, house of Aaron, who's
that? That's the priests, Levites. You know, He's made us kings
and priests, believers, all believers and priests. Right now, this
morning, we're ministering about the things of our God. Not unto
Him. We're ministering unto the Lord.
Oh, we have some female priests in here. Matter of fact, they're
all female. Oh, trust in the Lord. Trust
in the Lord. Oh, ye that fear the Lord. You
see, this is what all God's people, this is the characteristic of
all God's people. Because he is Lord, they fear
the Lord. This is the beginning of wisdom,
saving wisdom. You that fear the Lord. Trust
in the Lord. Now, trust, as we said, means
to be sure of, means to be confident in, means to really believe and
therefore put your hope in, your dependence upon. Stay with me
now, come on. It means to trust. You're going to get some help
here. Now, we trust many persons. We do. If you didn't put some
trust, if you didn't trust certain people, you wouldn't have anything
to do with them. If you're suspicious of people all the time, you wouldn't
have anything to do with them. Right? A certain amount of trust
we have toward people. And there are people that we
can trust to some degree, to a great degree. Right? If you don't trust that I'm God's
pastor, Don't listen to me. Get out of here. You better.
We're going to look at that in John 21 where he says the baptism
of John. Is this of God or man? We need
to find that out. It's either one or the other. It can't be both. Huh? You don't
trust me. Don't listen to me. I wouldn't
listen to you. Right? You put your trust. You trust. I've got to watch how word gets.
We trust people. And you know, once that trust
is broken down, it's hard to get back again. It really is. We trust things. You trust things,
don't you? You trust this building to a
certain degree. If you didn't trust that this
roof is not going to fall down on your head, you wouldn't have
come here this morning, would you? I crawl around in this attic,
and I don't know who built this thing, You don't want to go up
there. Anyway, where was I? You trust even things, don't
you? Your car. You got in your car
this morning. Mine was running a little rough
this morning. Anyway, you wouldn't get in it if you didn't trust
it to a certain degree. And doctors. You go to a doctor
and you say, tell me what I need to do. You trust him. Don't you? Sure you do. Sure you do. But
we should not put our trust in. Here's the difference. We should
not trust in people and things. We should not put our hope, that
is, all our hope and all our confidence and get all our peace
and our safety from people or things, anything or anyone. Do
not put your trust in. anyone or anything, but rather
in the Lord. Look over across the page, Psalm
118, verse 8. You see it? It's better to trust
in the Lord than to put confidence in man. Do not trust in, and the Scripture
speaks a great deal about They that trust in their wealth. They that trust in their wealth.
It won't help them. Folks live a whole lifetime accumulating
money and worry about having enough money for retirement. And then something happens. They
die or they get cancer and all the money is gone. Right? Don't trust in wealth. Ask people,
there's no one in here who, I don't think, yeah, Charles Ross back
there, you lived 1929 when the Great Depression hit. Anybody
else? You lived back then. Can you trust in wealth? Can
you trust that you've got savings and so forth? You've got a little
nest egg? Boy, everybody lost everything, didn't they? Everything. That is wood, hay and stubble. Can't trust in you well. Don't
do that. Don't trust in you well. Scripture talks about trusting
in chariots. Trusting in chariots. I think
back on some of the automobiles that I used to ride. When I was
an 18-year-old boy, I had a 59 Rambler and a push button. A Rambler with a lark or something
had the push button on the dash transmission. And back then,
the speed limit, before it changed, was 70 miles an hour. And I rode
around on four bald tires. I'm talking bald. I mean, the
cords were showing through. Now, dressed in chariots, your
safety is not in the finest car you can buy, is it? Buy you a car with an airbag,
but that's not going to save you. No, it's not. Not if the Lord
not puts your time. Trust in doctors. No, don't trust
in doctors. The Lord dealt with old Asa,
that king Asa. Because it says he didn't consult
the Lord, he went to physicians instead. He didn't even call
on the Lord at all, but went to physicians, trusting in them. So the Lord killed him. Doctors, don't trust yourself.
Now listen to this, everybody. Listen to everybody, especially
parents. Listen to me now. Don't trust in yourself for anything. You can't even keep yourself
safe, let alone your children or your wife or anybody else.
You're not keeping yourself. I've made the statement before.
You're not providing your needs. You're not providing for your
family. You haven't paid one bill. Everything you have, you've received
from above and it's loaned to you, and it's coming. You didn't
provide. None of this came from you. You're
not protecting your family. You can't protect your family.
Would you listen to me? Don't trust in yourself, trust
in the Lord. You're not protecting yourself
and you can't protect anybody else. You're being protected. And so is your family. I remember when my wife was pregnant.
with our first and only child. And, you know, when we first
found out about it, that's when you're really nervous, you know.
And one morning, she came bouncing down the stairs. Oh, don't do that. I jumped over. Don't be doing that. I was so
worried, you know. Worried. And you know, the doctors told
us we could not have children. And this child that we received
was absolutely from the Lord. They told us we couldn't have
children. Well, the Lord gave us this child. We didn't get
the child. The Lord gave us this child. Why not trust the Lord with the
child He gave you? Huh? Hannah did, didn't she?
The Hannah in the Scriptures, huh? Was a barren woman, and
the Lord gave her. She became with child. So what did she do? She knew
the Lord gave her this child, so she trusted the Lord. And
what did she do four or five years later? She entrusted that
child back to the Lord. She said, Lord, You gave Him.
Here he is, he's yours to do with as you please. Would you
listen to me, parents? To not trust the Lord, to overly worry
and overly be afraid and concerned is distrust. The Lord gave them. They're the
Lord's. And the Lord can take them away.
And nothing we do can stop that. Am I right? Trust in the Lord. To be overly worried and concerned,
full of care and anxiety and fearful, is distrust. You know, the Lord may try us
on these things. There's a man, I knew a man for
years in the church, who always worried about something bad happening
to him. I love you knew this man. He
always worried about something bad happening to him. He conceived
of all sorts of terrible scenarios that were going to happen to
him. Honestly. Whenever you're with him, he'd ride down the
road in the car and there'd be like a truck in front of him,
a logging truck. He'd say, I can just see it now.
That chain's going to break and those logs and it's going to
kill me. Always. I mean it. He always worried
about those things. Always. You know what happened
to him? He was riding down the road one
day, 55 miles an hour in his car, and a stone fell off a mountain
and crushed his car. Trust in the Lord. That's distrust,
you know. We're immortal until the morning. David, who trusted the Lord,
who told us that, I don't know if he wrote this, but David said, Who shall I fear? Of what shall
I be afraid? Our Lord said, don't fear him
which killeth the body, and after that there's nothing. Fear him
which can cast both body and soul into hell. He's the Lord.
You see, the Lord, from whom all things come. The
Lord, now listen to me carefully, trusts to be worried to a certain
degree is love. You couldn't love somebody if
you didn't worry about them. Honestly, it's human. You couldn't
be human. You're unfeeling. You're insensitive. You're thinking
about yourself if you don't worry to some degree. Right? It's human. The disciples worried about the
Lord. Didn't they? Don't go into Jerusalem,
Lord, they're going to kill you. No man taketh my life from me,
and no man taketh your life from you. I'm the Lord. I kill. I make alive. Not things. I use these things,
but I'm the one that did it. Trust in the Lord. But, you know, what I'm saying
for your peace and comfort is that it's human. It explains
it. It doesn't excuse it, but it
explains it. It is love to a certain degree,
but it's still unbelief. It's still distrust. He's still
the Lord. It's still so that the Lord said,
don't fear. Fear not. I'm the Lord. Now, the Lord never promised
that things we think are bad won't happen. The Lord doesn't promise that.
That's what these fools, they make false promises. These religious
fools say these things. The Lord didn't promise his people
that they would be without trials and sufferings and sorrows and
troubles and so forth. No, sir. No, sir. He did not
promise that. Nowhere in here it says you won't
get sick. I told you, I should die from it. Nowhere in here
does the Lord say you won't have terrible things happen to you.
what we think are terrible, but he's promised this. Now, here's
where he's promised, and here's where all your peace comes from.
He says, I'm the one that sins it. I'm the one who did this. And it's always good. It's always
good. All things work together. Who's working them? The Lord.
He did this. He's doing this. He gave. He
took away. The Lord does this. He said,
He's promised now, and here's where you need to put your trust
and your confidence and your hope and drive your peace and
comfort, Paul, and be sure of. I sent this, and it's going to
be good. Absolutely. And you're going
to thank me for it. From the top of your lungs, from
the bottom of your heart, you're going to thank me that I did
it. Trust in the Lord. Trust Him.
We don't know. We just don't know God's purpose,
God's will. We know in part. I preach in
part. We know. Trust in the Lord. Now, listen,
this is important right here. Don't tempt the Lord, though.
Trust in the Lord, but don't tempt the Lord. The Lord hath
put natural laws into effect. You break them, and they suffer
because of it. Honestly. Overeat, overdrink,
whatever. Live carelessly, you may suffer
the consequences of it. In other words, you give yourself
to anything, the Lord may give you over to that and it be bad for you. The Lord has natural
laws that are in effect. Don't trust in your keeping us. You know, I just discovered recently
I have high cholesterol. Very high. And I told one of
the nurses, I said, you know, ever since they told me that,
I've been having dizzy spells and shortness of breath. Imagine
all sorts of things wrong with me. So what have I done? So I've tried to change my diet
a little bit. I went and got fish oil and all this stuff,
and I'm eating every morning oatmeal. I'm sprinkling everything you
can imagine on top of it. This person said cinnamon, this
person said flaxseed, ground it up. It doesn't even resemble oatmeal,
damn it. Anyway, is that going to save me? No. It just makes good sense
to eat right, not to be stupid and, you know, eat a McDonald's
every day of your life. But don't trust in any of those
things. I wear my seatbelt. Why? Because
the law says so. You do what the law says. God
has all authorities of the law. You've got to have insurance.
You've got to have insurance to drive a car. It's against
the law if you don't. You better do it. As much as cars cost now,
you know, it'd just be a pretty wise thing to do. Don't trust
in it. Buy some life insurance. But
that's not going to keep your wife. Is it? It didn't keep her before
you had her. It's not going to keep her when
you're gone. Huh? Don't trust in those things.
And don't tempt the Lord, though. I believe when my days are numbered,
that I'm not walking across the street without looking both ways.
That's ignorant. Satan tempted Christ by saying,
jump off the cliff, prove that your days are numbered. He said,
thou shalt not tempt the Lord. That's tempting the Lord. That's
important. Is that an important word? Trust
in the Lord, but don't tempt him. Don't live like a fatalist. Don't go out and stand in the
lightning just because you think you can. Trust in the Lord. Don't tempt
the Lord. But especially when we're talking about trusting
in the Lord, it means put all your hope, all
your hope of eternal life, all your confidence of being saved by God in Jesus Christ the Lord. Do not trust in your righteousness. Boy, old Peter did, didn't he?
He thought everybody else may leave you but not me. You may take a horrible fall
to where you even question whether you're one of the Lords or not.
Don't trust in your righteousness. Trust in the Lord your righteousness. He cannot fail. Don't trust in
your faith. I know whom I have believed.
I really do. I know whom I'm persuaded. But that's not what's
going to save me. I'm saved because He knows me. Don't trust your faith. Don't
trust an experience. I've had some experiences, some
marvelous experiences, some miraculous things the Lord has done, proved
Himself to me. Don't trust that. Don't trust
that at all. As I said, one day you may, and
the next day something will happen that you wonder, I don't know
if I'm saving or not. Don't trust any of those things.
Trust in the Lord. Now here's proof, and I've got
to quit. Look at verse 12. Here's why
we may trust Him. Here's why we should trust Him.
Look at this. Verse 12. The Lord hath been
mindful of us. Hath been. The Lord has thought
on us. That's why you're here this morning.
You know that? If you're here this morning, you have an interest
in the Lord Jesus Christ, you really want to worship God, because
God thought on you. Because God set his love upon
you, his affection upon you. God chose you. That's why you're
here. It gets better. This is why we may trust him.
He's thinking on you. My daughter used to lie in the
bed in there, and like every parent, I worried about her.
Often you'd go in at night to see if she's still breathing.
Huh? Why is she still breathing? What is it? SIDS. Huh? But here's the illustration.
I loved her and I thought on her. She's sleeping. She's not
worried. She's asleep. She's resting. She's unconcerned. I was thinking of her. A lot. The Lord's been mindful of us. You may trust Him. Go to sleep,
that's it. Go to sleep. He's the Keeper of Israel. He's
not sleeping. Never will. And your breath is
in His hands, and when He takes it, it's over. He took it. You're his child, he said. The
Lord has been mindful of us. Couldn't help but think of this,
he's mindful of his covenant. And he will bless us. Listen
to this. Listen to this. He hath been mindful of us. He
will bless us. He will bless the house of Aaron.
He will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless them that fear
him, both small and great. Little faith, big faith. Young,
old. He will. See, the reason you have this
fear, the reason you have this interest, the reason you are
here, is because the Lord hath been mindful of you, thought
on you, and he will. He hath and he will bless you. He will. It says this three times.
He will, he will, he will. He will. Little faith, big faith. He will bless you. It's not according
to your faith. Verse 14, the Lord shall increase
you more and more, you and your children. He shall. He hath. He will. He shall. Increase you. You'll grow in
grace and the knowledge of Christ. He'll perfect that which concerns
you. He shall. He said that. Whatever God has
begun, He'll finish it. Faithful as He that called you,
He'll do it. He's God, you see. That's who we're talking about.
Our Lord. Trust in the Lord. He's chosen
you and brought you and called you and predestined you. He's
thought on you and you are blessed. You will be blessed. Yes, you
shall be. Trust in Him. Oh, but I don't know, but I'm
sorry. There you go. Trying to look to yourself or
something. Don't do that. Trust in the Lord. He will. He shall. Verse 15. You are blessed. You are blessed
of the Lord. You are. You already are. We're of all people most blessed
right now, this morning. We are. You are blessed. You
already have been. You are blessed. He that hath
the Son hath life. He that believeth hath life.
You are blessed. He hath, he will, he shall, you
are. Blessed of the Lord. Why? Because it's all His. Verse 16.
Even the heavens are the Lord's. It's all His. The earth and the
inhabitants thereof. It's all the Lord's. And you're
the Lord's. You belong to Him. You're not
your own. You bought with a price. He paid a huge price for you,
believer. And you're His. Trust in Him. Trust in the Lord. You know, keeping yourself. He
that keepeth Israel. Go to sleep. Rest. Trust. Right now, I see on some
of your faces, peace, comfort, trust. Same God when you leave here.
Trust in Him. Trust in Him. The youngest believer,
the weakest faith, you look to the Lord Jesus Christ, you're
a saved human being. The chief of sinners, oh, but
you don't know what I've done. The Lord knows everything you've
done. You don't know what you've done. He knows. He said, I've forgotten it. Where
do I have it? I've never been up. Won't ever
bring it up again. I won't ever bring it up again. As he says, it's all his. That's
why he can bless us, because it's all his. But verse 16, did
you notice this? The earth hath he given to the
children of men. The earth hath he given to the
children of men. The earth hath he given to the
children of men. You've got a new one coming.
Don't be surprised if somebody else gets what year maybe you
ought to get. Okay, are you hearing me? Don't
be surprised. Let me just give you a good illustration.
About 19 years ago, I was looking for a job. And
I had a young child that I was worried about. I needed a job
and I applied for a job and you know my next door neighbor who
I was good friends with, they were buddies, was doing the hiring for that
job. He was the one who was hiring
the person for the job. And the job entailed some cabinetry,
some carpentry, of which I had some experience. In fact, I did
a job for him. And he loved it. Built a mantel
for this fellow. And he loved it. We were friends. He was doing the hiring. And
when it came time to interview for the job, there was 300 and
400 and some applicants, but I was the first one interviewed. I knew the job was mine. I knew
it was. I mean, he interviewed me. Hey, Bill. Hi, Paul. Hey, fine. Everything is mine. I didn't
get the job. I was shocked. Why didn't I get the job? I wouldn't be here today. if
I got that job. Honestly. That was 19 years ago. I'd have been working and a fellow
called me and said, would you come preach the Central Baptist
Church? I said, I can't. I've got to work. Right? Don't be surprised if
somebody else gets the job. But you trusted the Lord. There are better things in store. Oh, it's bad. Oh, no, no, no,
no, no. You just wait. It won't get any
better than what you want it to. That's what Old Brother Joe said,
didn't he? Old Brother Joe, years ago, was
in religion and came home one day, didn't he, and sat out on
the bed after all the deacons had had a fight I sat on the
bed and you told me this. He told me this. He just cried
because he said it just can't get any worse. Well, a few years later, Brother
Joe would say, it can't get any better. Just a few short years and it
was as best as it could get, as good as it could get on this
earth. And then they took him and it just got better. Oh, boy. Oh, my. He says in verse 17, the dead
praise not the Lord. These idols, these people that
are dead, deaf, numb, they're not praising the Lord, neither
any that go down into silence. They're not praising, these idols
and those that worship them. But we, we will bless the Lord
from this time forth. and forevermore. Praise the Lord. Give all glory and honor to the
Lord. And trust in the Lord. Don't trust in things, people,
anything. Israel. O Israel, trust in the
Lord. Did this give you any help, any
comfort? Anybody? It did me. Now, we're going to go home,
every one of us, and start worrying a little bit, aren't we? Well, I'll tell you what to do.
I'll tell you what to do, okay? Get your Bible out and read Psalm
115 one more time. That's good advice. All right. Let Gabe come and
lead us, and I've got to go.