We're marching through Emmanuel's
ground to fairer worlds on high, to fairer worlds on high. We're marching to Zion's beautiful,
beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion,
the beautiful city of God. That's Jill Ogle's paper. Was that your mother's? She's not marching anymore. She's
sitting. Psalm 37, the second half of
this psalm, which was began Wednesday night, and if you want Lord willing,
Wednesday night we'll look at Matthew 21 where the Lord said,
wisdom or the Lord has perfected praise out of the mouths of babes
and sucklings. It's a wonderful passage as well. The second half of this psalm
speaks of a good man. Look at verse 23, a good man,
steps of a good man. speaks of the righteous, the
righteous. Verse 37, the perfect man, the
upright. Now, you know, those of you who
have heard the truth, know the truth. You know that this certainly,
without a doubt, speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ. He who is
good. He who is as good as God. He
who is the righteous one. He's the righteous one, who is
the perfect one, without spot or blemish, the complete one. But did you know that these things
are designated or given to all those in Christ? That's who this
is speaking of, all those in Christ. This is how God, the
Christ, he views them as good, righteous. Look at verse 39,
very clear. In context, you cannot take these
things out of context. Verse 39, salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. The salvation of the
righteous is of the Lord. He is their strength. Whose strength?
The righteous. In the time of trouble, the Lord
shall help them. Who? The righteous, the upright. So these things are attributed
to God's people who are in Christ. All right? God's children. All
who are born of God. Born of God. All who are in Christ
and Christ in them. All right? You see that? That's
the context. Verse 23 says, "...the steps
of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in
his way." Let me just labor this point just a little bit, okay?
Romans 15. Go over to Romans chapter 15. Steps of a good man. Now listen very carefully and
learn something. Alright? Now you know what Psalm
14 says, don't you? And Romans 3 quotes that. Psalm
14 says, The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children
of men. And he says they're all together. There's none that doeth good.
You notice that? The Lord looked down from heaven
upon the children of men. Look at Romans 15. Children of men. There's none
that doeth good. No, not one. Outside of the Lord
Jesus Christ, there's not one of the children of men. Not one
natural man who does any good. He's no good. He's up to no good. But the children of God, in whom dwells the Spirit of God, are good people. You want to
learn something? Scriptures calls them the salts
of the earth. Scripture says the world is not
worthy of them. Doesn't it? That's what God says. The world's not worthy. Every
one of them say of themselves, unworthy. But God says the world's
not worthy of them. Look at Romans 15. Paul said
this in verse 14. There's no contradiction. Verse
14, he said, I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren,
that you're all full of goodness. You're all good people. There's
no contradiction. The problem is in our own ignorance,
he said. The problem is in our own ignorance.
You know, you don't think this of yourselves, and you shouldn't.
You should not think of yourself as a good person. You know yourself better than
others know you. Well, better than most know you. You should not think of yourselves
as good. You should never call yourself that. But the brethren think you are. Don't you? Huh? Don't you? Don't you think John
Jesus is a good man? And I asked John that, and he
said, no, there's no goodness in my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. That's what John said, don't you, John? Don't you think
that Jesus is a good man? In Christ he is. Christ in him
he is. That's the only reason he is.
He said, Christ in you. Full of goodness. That's Christ
in you. Now, this goodness and this righteousness,
nobody talks about these righteous ones, these perfect ones. They
don't produce it. They have nothing to do with
it. This is what God Almighty puts
within His people. A new creature created in Christ
Jesus unto good work for that sole purpose. I've learned that. There was
a time years ago, every grace preacher, true grace preacher
would admit this. They were scared to death. Scared
to death to talk about good works. Scared to death to call anybody
good. Scared to death. Now you go ahead
and call yourself unclean. Go ahead. Always admit that. Always say that. Call yourself
no good. Do that. Admit it. But don't call your
brother that. God said to Peter, don't you
call unclean what I've cleansed. Right? Stan, don't you call unclean
what God says is good. Clean. Call yourself that. Now, is that settled in your
mind according to the Scripture? Huh? Salt of the earth, the world's
not worthy, good man. Now, verse twenty-three. Steps
of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in
his way. That good man, that perfect man, that righteous man,
Christ, every step he took was ordered by God, certainly, without
a doubt. God Almighty delighted in his
way, right? As He is. So, aren't you glad
that our steps are ordered by the Lord? If you're in Christ,
if you're one of His people, aren't you glad? You don't want
to take a step that's not ordered by God. Everything about God's children
is ordered by Him. And sure, David said that, that
God has ordered all things concerning men. It's all ordered in nature. He said, this is all my salvation. That God Almighty has ordered
my steps. Don't you love that? Don't you love that? Lord, don't
leave me to myself. Do not let me go my own way. put my feet in the path of righteousness."
And that's your prayer. Order my steps, Lord. I keep
quoting that proverb, Order our steps according to thy word,
and let no iniquity have dominion over them. That's Psalm 119. Well, God delights in His children. Yes, He does. Do you? Do you
delight in your children? God's children walk with him. They all do. Like Enoch. That's
the story of Enoch. Enoch walked with God and God
took him. God took him. He was no more. God took him.
He had this seal that he pleased God. That's what Hebrews 11 said. Now without faith, you can't
please God. So Enoch walked by faith in Christ
with God. And God delighted in him. He
delighted in him. Do you delight in your children?
Do you like in their walk? We have three young sets of parents
here. And when when Kelly began to
walk, were you happy about that? I saw your face. It's more, it's
a joy to watch the parents face more than the child. Watch them
sometime. Emma, Watching her walk. See,
I'm not even her dad. Patrick, when she just walked
toward me in the study the other day, just put a big smile on
her face. Just delighted me to know him.
And Abigail, she's right there. She's right there. Does that
delight you? Just delights you, doesn't it? Just delighted. until she turns two. And then
she starts bouncing off the wall. Well, anyway, God, folks, anything
good about us or whatever, we got it from God. The love we
have for our children, everything, anything, everything, we're created
in His image. That's where Cal came from. He
delights. God is not some... He says, I'm a God of hand, not
a God of heart. as a father to his children,
as a father to his children, delights in them. I've loved
the thought of our Lord Jesus Christ delighting in those children
of His, those boys, all those men together all the time, you
know, picking at one another and how they do, probably wrestling
all the time. Those young men are delighted
in that. Self-righteous Pharisees, you
know, depict God as some austere one who, you know, never smiles.
Oh, I beg your pardon. You want to know how God is?
Study Jesus Christ. He is God. Well, He delights
in their way. Look at verse 24. Though He falls, He will not be utterly cast down.
Now, Patrick, when Emma, did she take a fall after she started
walking? Oh, how many times? Seven times?
Seventy times did you leave her down? Did you ever leave her?
Did you ever, in the beginning, not run and pick her up? Did you say, well, you ignorant
little girl, what's wrong with you? You're weak, aren't you? I'm not going to pick you up
again. Did you ever say that? Not once. We're still called his double
children. We're still called his double
children. I know we're grown-ups. Many of us are getting older. Some are older than others, Margaret. And we fall. We keep falling,
don't we? The Lord won't leave us down.
Did you read that in Proverbs 24, though? A righteous man,
a righteous man, those in Christ, fall seven times and rise again. How? The Lord upholdeth him. Picks him up. Picks her up. Verse
24, the Lord will not suddenly leave him down. The Lord upholdeth
him with his hand. Aren't you glad your God has
hands, Kelly? The world's God doesn't have
hands, you know. No feet. But I have big hands, and I'm
in on it. That's the way I want it. He
says in verse 25, I've been young. This is David speaking. I've
been young, and now I'm old. Yet have I not seen the righteous
forsaken. Now listen, believer. I have never. David said, I have
never seen the righteous. I've never seen that person who
trusts the Lord, who trusts Christ, who believes Him, who looks to
Him, who depends upon Him. That's what trust is. Depends
on him. Never! He said, I've never seen
one of them forsaken by that crowd. He'd have to forsake himself. He can't deny himself. As he
is. He can't deny himself. They fall
and they sin and so forth, but he is their Savior. That's what he's called. He is
their Redeemer. their Lord, their Master, their Father. And I've
never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. Now, who's the righteous? It's
Christ, isn't it? Was Christ made sin, truly? And had he in that argument,
he was forsaken. He's the only one that ever has
been. He was made sin, he said, and forsaken. But Christ's people
are never forsaken. You know, I love that story of
the scapegoat. You know how a fit man took that
goat? The sins of the people were confessed
upon the head of that goat? Goat? And he was led out in the
wilderness by a fit man all the way out in the wilderness. And
then he was let go, left forsaken. And that fit man, that one who
took it all the way out there, came all the way back. And people
said, did you put that goat where he can't be found? Got our sins
on it? Yes, sir. He'll not return again.
He's forsaken forever. Why did God use a goat? Why didn't they confess their
sins on the head of a sheep? God can't forsake a sheep. But you'll see how they
go down. Christ was made sin. He was made
me, and God pursued me to sin for the righteous. God made him to be sin for me
who knew no sin. Yet he was made sin. I don't
understand, but it's happened. That we might be made the righteous.
I'm righteous now. I don't understand that, but
it's so. And God can't persecute me. Is that good news or what? It's all about him. And he said,
I've never seen his seed begging bread. His seed. Whose seed?
God's seed. Christ's seed. Seed of Christ. Goes in Christ. Never seen one
of them begging bread. Never. Now, you Americans, you
affluent Americans, and all of us are, you'll never You'll probably
never see your children starving as you do these children in third
world countries. You turn on the TV and you see
these little bloated, sad. I believe those are all God's
elect. Don't be too sorry for them. I mean, let's be sorry
over their pain and suffering, but that, you know, just as soon
as they're gone, I believe they're with the Lord. The Lord is merciful.
That looks terrible, doesn't it? How could the loving God
Allow that to happen. Well, just hold on, just wait. But you'll never, probably never
see your children starving as those third world countries,
nor do God's children, any of them, spiritual children, starve
for the gospel. We're in a famine. We're living
in a famine of the hearing of God's word today. All people
are feeding on husks, aren't they? God's people are not starving,
they're eating. I'm going to go home today, and
my wife's got a meal prepared. It's my birthday. And she's going
to pick the same meal. It's not going to be any better
than the one I had last Sunday. It's going to be just as good.
And I'm going to go away from that table full. I have miserable. It's a wonderful misery. You come with your mouth open.
You feel God says open your mouth out with what what what is it
that God's people what does he make them to lie down and told
you about that old horse a man that would lie down out there
in the past year and Pastures were so green and so rich and
he just ate and ate. Molly's who was, she'd just eat
and eat and eat until she'd fall over. And Barbara, she'd keep eating
while she was lying down. Now boy, if that isn't being
full. Just full. That's the way God's
people are. I've never seen there's God's
seed begging bread. Oh no, they'll eat fat things
and wine on the leaves. Anybody in Solomon's kingdom
hungry? Anybody under Solomon's reign or rule hungry? With a
table like that? Why did he prepare so much food?
Anybody could come that wanted it. And it says every man sat
under his, dwelled under his own vine of victory. Gage said,
I need to go out and find me a pine plant and a fig tree.
Just sounds good. So it is with the righteous,
with God's people. There's none of them begging
bread. Begging bread? Oh, far from it. They have bread
to the fullest. Read on. Because he's ever merciful. Our Lord is ever merciful. His
mercy endureth forever. It's mercy. See, everything we
receive is mercy. We don't deserve it. It's mercy.
He's not given us what we've earned. He's given us what Christ
earned. But it's mercy. He's merciful.
And he lends it. Scriptures as exact didn't stand.
And he lends it. We're not keeping anything here.
We're borrowing it. Just like the children of Israel
borrowed from the Egyptians on their way out. They weren't going
to keep it. Nothing can be kept here. that he lended, and his
seed is blessed. Who's blessed? All the blessings
of God are in Christ, the seed, the woman's seed. Depart from evil, verse 27, depart
from evil and do good. You say, I can't do any good. Well,
you better learn what it is and you better start. And what do you tell your children?
Well, what did you tell your children, Ron? Oh, just do what
you want to. Just go on out there. You've been up to no good? That's
all right. No. Are we better than God? Depart from evil. What did he
say about Job? He says a man who eschews evil.
Didn't he? Didn't he? That's a real man
and a real story. God really said that about him.
I want to be that one. Christ was a ho-ho. He knew no
sin. In Him is no sin. He did good. That's all He could do was good.
We say about ourselves, all I seem to be able to do is evil. In
my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Well, but God says do good. Stretch
out your hand. I can't. It's withered. Stretch
it out. Pick up thy bed and walk. He
can't do that. Do it. Apart from evil, I do good. I can do all things through Christ
as treatment. We know this, that whatever is
good has something to do with God's glory and love to God and
love to God's people and so forth. Dwell forevermore, he said. Dwell
forevermore. John said this, didn't he, in
1 John 2, my favorite verse. He said, little children, these
things I write unto you that you sin not. Depart from evil. Sin not. Depart from those people
or evil places and avoid every appearance of evil. Do good and
if any man sin, we have an advocate. We have an advocate. There's
the instruction, do good. Here's the good news. We have
an advocate. All right, verse 28. The Lord
loveth judgment. The Lord loveth judgment. The
Lord loveth his own judgment. The judge of all the earth shall
do right. He loves to do so. It's the only
way he can do things is right. He loves to do right. The Lord
loveth judgment. I love this verse. The Lord loves
judgment. The Lord loves to do right. You
know, the Lord loves to right that which is wrong and wrong
that which men think is right. The Lord is going to set it all
straight someday, and I can't wait. I'm going to have to. But you know, men call evil good
and good evil. God is going to set it all right
someday. The Lord is going to undo every
wrong. He said, Vengeance is mine, I
will repay, saith the Lord. And I can't wait for the Lord
to just exercise perfect judgment. You know, the world rejected
Jesus Christ. So what did God do? God exalted
him. And that which is highly esteemed
among men, what does God do? Monumentation to God. Lord loves
righteous judgment, and when you exercise righteous judgment
by God's Spirit, by God's grace, the Lord loves it. He says judge
righteous judgment, fair, honest, equitable judgment, judge it. The Lord loves it. Don't you
love, didn't you love when your children were growing up when
they exercised good judgment? When they finally, you know,
they're so full of it. everything. Don't at times young. Kids I'm sorry I'm sorry you
know. I love you. But. I was this way at times
when kids just don't act like they have a lick of sense. Not
a lick of sense. They're running on nothing but
hormones. That's true. And don't you just love it. Whenever
now and then they exercise some good judgment. Not very often, but more when
it happens. And God does too. Good judgment. The Lord loves
judgment. See that? Judgment. Right dealings. Honest
dealings. Forsake it, not its saints. The
Lord forsaketh not his saints. They are preserved for ever. When I read this in the study,
it just thrilled my soul. The Lord preserveth. Preserveth. They're preserved forever. Oh,
they're preserved forever. He preserves them. Listen to
this. The Lord is thy keeper. Listen
to this, believer. The Lord is thy keeper. The Lord
shall preserve thee. from all evil. This is the good
news. Gospel means good news. If this
isn't good news to you, I don't know what is. The Lord shall
preserve thee from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going
out and thy coming in from this time forth and even forevermore. Somebody say, Amen. If you need preserving, that's
the best news you've ever heard. Do you need it? They're preserved forever. But
the sea of the wicked? Cut off. Cut off. Verse 29, the righteous shall
inherit the land. Now who's the heir of all things?
Huh? Who owns all things? God the
Father is the great landowner and husbandman. Who has he given
all things to? By law, by right. How is it?
The eldest son, right? The firstborn, always. Christ
is the heir of all things. He's earned it. Doesn't he deserve
it? My oldest brother was just, you know, He's just like my dad. I loved
everything about him. And were he alive today, he'd
be the heir of it all. And I'd just be happy about it. It wouldn't bother me a bit.
He deserves it. Christ, I say he gets the whole
thing, don't you? He deserves it. He deserves it. But you know what? We're joint
heirs. with him. And that's something. Knowing my brother, he'd have
given half of it to me. We're joint heirs. And knowing
the Lord Jesus Christ, that's exactly what he did. Even to
half of my kingdom, his kingdom. They'll inherit the land and
dwell therein forever. Verse 30, the mouth of the righteous
speaketh wisdom. Oh, Christ is wisdom. Every word
out of his mouth is wisdom. He is wisdom personified. His
tongue talketh of judgment. The words, you know, everything
in this book is God's Word. How can I say this without making
one seem better than the other, but the very words of the Lord
Jesus Christ himself on this earth. Well, I can't. I shouldn't say that. But every
word he spoke was just a marvel. Just a marvel of judgment. Don't
you know the disciples? They were astounded at his wisdom. Astounded. Everywhere. They walked and talked with him
for days on end, 24 hours a day. It never thought of it like that. For lack of a better word, it
was incredible. What he said, how he said it. Amazing. The mouth of the Lord,
oh my, his tongue talketh of judgment. Wouldn't you have loved
to just walk with him for a day? The disciples on the road to
Emmaus, don't go. Please don't leave us. Keep preaching. And someday we won't have to.
Someday we won't have to. We're going to listen to him
and just be astounded. Well, you know, the righteous,
those in Christ, they speak wisdom and their tongue talks of judgment.
All right? If we're going to say anything wise, what is it
going to be about? A fool talks about himself, doesn't
he? A fool talks about himself. A fool talks about his own whatever. Those that say anything wise
or anything of good judgment, our speech is of Him who is wisdom. Our speech is of Him. So, therefore,
wise. Wise men and women still speak
of Him. They speak of him. They seek
him and they speak of him. Verse 31, he says, The law of
his God is in his heart. None of his steps shall slide.
Oh, Christ came. Lo, I delight to do thy will,
O God. He came as our law fulfiller. The law was in his heart. Yes,
every jot and tittle of it. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify. I don't know the whole law and
therefore I can't keep it. Christ did and he did. He knew
it all written on his heart and said, I'd like to do that. I've
come to keep it for them. You know what Jeremiah 31, 33
says? This is my covenant I'll make
with my people, my people. I'll write my law on there. How often is it that something
is happening and you're doing something or whatever, and God's
word comes to mind? Thank God. He says it'll be a
wellspring, a wellspring, springing up just when you need it, just
when you need it. And it says, I like this, none
of his steps shall slide. Christ's steps certainly didn't.
And our steps are ordered to, and it won't slide. Listen to
Psalm 40. It says in Psalm 40, verse 2,
He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry
clay, and set my feet on a rock. Those who have their feet set
on Christ, grounded and settled, set on a rock. It won't slide. You love that in Deuteronomy
32 where it says their rock's not like our rock. Their rock's
rolling. Our rock is fixed. Right. That
same passage, Brother Stan, that same passage says of those whose
feet are set upon that rock, their foot will not slide in
due time. All who have their feet set on
a solid rock, their foot will not slide. As he is. If he can slide, they can slide.
If he's fixed, they are too. Oh my, aren't you glad your rock
is the rock of Christ Jesus. Verse 32, the wicked watcheth
the righteous and seeketh to slay him. The Lord will not leave
him in his hand or condemn him when he is judged. The wicked
look for believers to follow. Look, wicked one and his ministers
and those who are his children, those who work for him or in
his service, the wicked one. They watched the righteous. They're
trying. They're looking. They're hoping for a fall. Hoping
for a fall. Well, and they will fall. Oh,
my. Will they fall? Abraham did it,
didn't he? Oh, my. Isaac did it, didn't he? Noah
did it. Noah did it. They all did. Jacob
did it. They all did it. And the wicked one and the people
rejoiced in it. Oh, my, David did, didn't he?
Oh, Solomon. Peter did. The Lord's not going to leave
him in their hands. The Lord's not going to leave them condemned
when he's judged. The world is judged and sentenced,
but they'll not carry out the execution. Wait on the Lord. Wait. Here we are again, verse
34. Wait on the Lord. Stay with me,
folks. Stay with the Word. I'm just
doing a commentary. God's Word. He says, wait on
the Lord. Wait on the Lord. And keep His
way. Keep trusting Christ. Keep looking
to Christ. He shall exalt thee to inherit
the land. When the wicked are cut off,
you're going to see it. Wait on the Lord. Just wait. Scripture
keeps telling us that, doesn't it? Wait. Just wait and see. David says, I've seen, look at
this, verse thirty-five and six, I've seen the wicked in great
power, spreading himself like a green bay tree, yet he passed
away. Lo, he, he was not, I saw, I
looked for him, couldn't find him. He'd gone. I've seen wicked,
big, powerful men, David said, big men, powerful men, mighty
men, rich men. They're whole, you know, they're
Kingdoms fill in the then-known world. What about Alexander?
Anybody know anything about Alexander the Great? You know anything about Alexander?
You know, he ruled the world. I think he died of syphilis or
something like that. What a fitting end to a great
man. You know anything about him?
Maybe the young people never even heard of him. That's fitting,
isn't it? You know anything about it? No, I don't. David said, you look for him,
you can't nobody remember a thing about him. But on the other hand,
I've seen little people, nothings and nobodies, simple seamstresses
who sit at a sewing machine for 40 years, a simple wife and a
mother of four. Sitting with the King right now.
Sitting with the King. You're looking for these big,
mighty men. You'll not find them. Can't even remember their name.
But there's a name like Ellen. Who? Doesn't matter if you know
her or not. God does. Simple, uneducated
truck driver sitting right now beside Abraham. You see, God loves judgment.
He does what's right, that which is highly esteemed among men.
God has purposed it, Isaiah 23, verse 9, has purposed it. The
Lord has purposed it to bring down all pride. And he that abases himself is
exalted. Oh, my, the Lord will Wait, just
wait, wait, wait. He said, I've seen all this,
but you mark, verse 37, you mark the perfect man. Mark it down. I like that old term, don't you?
Mark it down. Mark. Note, take note of. The perfect
man. That person who's in Christ is
complete. That's what perfect means, complete.
The scriptures say you shall someday be completed. It doesn't
say that, does it? He says, You are complete in
Him. You are complete in Him. Mark
it down. Behold the upright, the end of
that man, that woman. Mark it down, the end. You see,
the end is what really matters. Don't judge too much before the
time. You look at somebody or whatever. No, well, hold on.
Hold on. Let's see the end. Let's wait. end of that man. You see, we look at things all
wrong. We don't have good judgment when
we look at things wrong. We see this person as just poor
and miserable and their life is full of trials and troubles
and heartaches and so forth. Well, God must not be blessing
them. You might have it all wrong.
You see this person up here is just rich and increased with
good and have no troubles and everything. Oh, God's blessed That may be the absolute reprobation
of God. Huh? But you mark the perfect
man, that person who trusts in Christ, and no matter what his
or her life is ordered, you see, their steps are ordered, every
trial and every trouble is ordered by God. It's all ordered, ordered
by God, and their life may be marked with trial and trouble,
but you mark it down. Their end is real good, real
good. In this world you shall have
tribulation, but mark it down. The end of that man, that woman,
is eternal, unspeakable, marvelous, glorious peace. Peace like a
river. It's peace, eternal rest, and nothing will
harm them forever. And those others, those That's
all they're going to have. The worm died not. But my people,
nothing's going to bother them ever again. Ever. No pain, no
suffering, no sin, no sorrow, nothing. You can mark it down.
The end. You see, the end is what matters.
You ever read a book or watch a movie, and in the course of
that, the book starts out bad? Something horrible happened,
huh? About all you read these days
and watch is something terrible in it. But, you know, he starts
out bad and in the middle it's just bad. But if it ends all right, if
it ends up good, what do you say? That's a good book. Don't
you think? Oh, that's a good book. I like
that book. But it started bad. And in the middle, you were worried. I've gone to see movies before.
You pay money now. By the time you buy hot dogs
and some bonbons, it's $143.58. You go to a movie. You go there, and people go to
movies to escape reality. And what you want to see is things,
you know, you want to see, you know, it all worked out good.
That's what you want to see. I went to a movie. My wife and
I went to a movie. All that money. And went to see this movie set
in Lexington, Virginia. And this famous actor and actress,
you know, looked like a good movie. It was a good movie. It
was a Civil War movie. And of course, that movie was pretty
good, you know. It was about Civil War, bad and all that.
And this fellow, you know, this Confederate fellow and his wife's
waiting on him at home. And, you know, that thing ended. He got home. They hung him. You remember that minute? Killed
him. It ended bad. And I told men, I said, I paid
money to see that. Honestly, you don't want to do
that, do you? See, what matters is the
end. Don't judge things. by a carnal
reason at first and then even in the middle. Just wait. This
is what God keeps telling us. Wait. It's the end. It's the end. That's what matters. The end. And you mark the perfect man. That person, no matter how imperfect
they think they are, if they're in Christ, This is the good news. If they
trust Christ, no matter how weak that faith is, look to Christ.
Mark it down. Their end is good. And nobody's seen it. Nobody's
been there. I can't tell it because I haven't
seen it, but Christ said it. Mark it down. It's good. It's good. Peace forevermore. God wrote a book and the end
is good. It's good. The salvation of the
righteous, the wicked will be cut off, transgressors, they're
going to be destroyed, all of them, going to be put away, out
of sight, out of mind. But the salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad,
glad, glad, glad? Hallelujah is what we ought to
say to that. It means praise the Lord, a salvation of the
righteous, all of God's people, their whole salvation, mind,
body, soul, everything. Eternal, temporal salvation,
everything is of the Lord. He's purposed it, He's ordered
it, He's determined it, it's in His hands, and nothing and
no one can change it. That's my Lord. It's my God,
the Lord is my Savior, I shall not want Him. It's Abba Lord,
Abba Lord. He's their strength in time of
trouble. The Lord shall help them and
deliver them, not might, shall help them and deliver them. He
shall deliver them from the wicked. Oh, there's times when I think,
oh, He's given me over. Lord, You said iniquity won't
have dominion over you. Well, he did that to Peter, didn't
he? Peter, you know, he needed a lesson. The Lord said, this
is not Satan that desired thee, Simon, to sift thee like wheat,
and I'm going to let him have you for a little while. You need
it. Even the falls of God's people are in God's person. You understand
that, don't you? I mean, not blaming God. And
we shouldn't take that as an excuse. But thank God,
that somehow even that's going to work out for my good. And
the Lord shall deliver them from the wicked and save them. Why? Who? Who is it? Those that
trust in Him. Those that trust in Him. It's
those that look to Christ. He'll preserve them. He's promised
to do so. Boy, if that isn't a gospel of
good news, I don't know what is. All right. Gabe, come. Let's sing hymn number
10 and stand together. The first and last verse. Oh God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come, Our shelter from the stormy blast, And I return home. Last verse. Oh God, our help
in ages past.