Praise ye the Lord, O let all
that is in me adore Him. All that hath life and breath,
come now with praises before Him. Let the amens sound from
His people again. Let me pray we adore Him. Praise ye the Lord, O let all
that is within me adore Him. That comes from Psalm 103, verse
1. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Not just my lips, many draw near
with the lips, their hearts far. Don't let that be me, the psalmist
said, but all that is within me, inner man, heart. Bless the Lord. Praise the Lord. Go back to Psalm 115 now. Psalm 115. David, we believe,
is the writer of this psalm. He doesn't say, but we believe
he is. Most of the songs that do not
have an author's name behind it were written by David. God
called David a man after mine own heart. That's what God called
David, that he is a man who I know a man whom I love, a man whom
I have put my spirit in, and a man who knows me, a man who
loves me, a man who thinks like me, a man after my own heart,
a man with my desires and my will, my glory, my honor, foremost
on his mind and his heart. David knew the living and true
God. Now, Scripture speaks of God,
the God, the only God, the God of the Bible, often speaks of
Him as the living and true God, living as opposed to dead, true as opposed to false, and
the Lord said there are many false. Living and true God. Our Lord
himself said in his prayer, John 17, this is life. This is eternal
life. This is what it means to have
the life of God. It's to know the only true God as opposed to the false one. David here in this psalm briefly
declares the true God, the living and true God. He briefly declares,
and he distinguishes the living and true God from the dead ones,
and there are many false ones that man idles, he calls them. An idol is a man-made God, and
it doesn't have to be a statue. It can be an invisible one that
man has made up. on his own thoughts and opinion.
And there are many. And David begins this way in
verse one, not unto us. Now, this is a man that knows
God. Now, this is a man who God knows, God chose, God revealed
himself to, and a man who knows God and loves God. He said, not
unto us, O Lord, not unto us. He says that twice for emphasis.
Not unto us. Not unto us, but unto thy name
be, give glory." We give glory. We endeavor to honor and praise
and give all the credit and glorify and extol and honor and exalt.
Not unto us. Not unto us. Far be it. God forbid, Paul said, that I
should glory. You want to know what the essence
of worship is? What true worship is? That everyone
who really worships, that a group of people who have truly got
together to worship God, you don't want to know what that
is? Here it is. It's giving God all the glory. I mean, A-double-L, the glory. not sharing any of it with anybody,
not giving anybody or anything any glory but God. That's the essence of true worship. Nobody is worshiping God who is giving any glory or giving
anybody else any glory or anything. This is it. That's what it's
all about. Everything was and is for God's glory. He created, the scripture says,
all things for His glory. He saves people. He saves people
for His glory. Not under us. This is a man who
knows God. Here's a man who loves the glory
of God. Here's a man who really worshiped
God, not under us, not under us, but under thy name. God's name is his glory. His
name means creator. That means he made everything,
doesn't it? Anybody who says otherwise doesn't
know God nor worship God. He is the Creator. He made all
things. He is the sustainer. He upholds
all things. His name, God, means sustainer,
upholds all things. In Him we live and move and have
our being, our breath. The God in whose hands our breath
is, Daniel said. We breathe. Our hearts beat because
God says so. He sustains all things, not natural
order, not genetics. It's God. He gets all the blessings. He's
the controller of all things. He worketh all things according
to His own counsel and will. All things. Nobody is in control
of anything, anything, not even Satan. God Almighty, that's His
name, and that's His glory. To thy name give glory. God of creation, the God of salvation. He's called the God, our Savior. That's what Jehovah means, true
Jehovah's Witnesses. Those who witness of God our
Savior, they believe and they give all the glory to God for
salvation. They know it's He that chose
us, He who loved us, He who had mercy upon us, He who predestinates,
calls, justifies and glorifies, not unto us, not unto us. We didn't choose Him. We didn't
call on him until he called on us. We didn't have faith until
he gave it to us. We didn't repent until the goodness
of God led us to it. Not unto us, not unto us, but
unto thy name be the glory. As his name, Jehovah, God our
Savior, to God the Lord belongeth salvation, as Scripture says.
Not unto us, not unto us. That's his name, that's who he
is. So it should go without sage, should it? Not under us. How or why or how could anybody
claim any glory, any credit or anything for anything? How could
they? Only if they don't know God. David was the greatest man on
earth at this time, the greatest man on earth. There he was. There was no equal
to King David. But he said, not unto me. It's not me. He was following
sheep, looking at the hind end of sheep, a young boy. But God chose him, called him,
drew him, exalted him, lifted him up, set him on the throne,
taught him, led him, guided him. Take it back. Set him apart.
Not another. I can stay right here all morning. That's what true worship's all
about. It's the heart and soul. That is worship. What is worship
but exaltation of, adoration of, endeavoring to exalt. And you can't, you can't Exalt
God too high. You can't say too much of God's
glory. You can say too much about man.
But not God. Not God. Not under us. Not under
us. Now David, who knew God, he knew the God of the Bible. Holy. Holy, holy, Lord God of
Israel is his name. Holy, holy, holy, just, a just
God, he said. Righteous. These are things that
David attributes to God, declares about his God be God throughout
the songs those who know the songs and read the songs read
these things often. Which David wrote he knew God. Now I ask you how often do you
even hear these terms in relation to God holy just and righteous. Very common throughout the scripture And so David, knowing the holy,
just God, he said that he will by no means clear the guilty.
I'm a just God. I will by no means clear the
guilty. That's what Moses, Moses knew God. Moses knew and saw
the justice of God, the wrath of God. Who ever says anything
about that today? Moses did quite often. David
did. The apostles did. And so David says, God's chief
glory, it's his name, God's chief glory,
verse 1, he says, Not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy name
give glory, and this is it, for thy mercy. How often do you hear that spoken
of today? Mercy. What is mercy? Mercy is not getting what you
deserve. What we deserve. Here's a person
who is guilty of a crime. And the law has sentenced them
to die. The wages of this particular
crime is death. If they die from it, if they're
punished to the absolute justice. Then they will die for that crime.
But it is mercy if a judge spares them. If they don't get what they deserve,
that's what they deserve. David says, this is your chief
glory. Mercy. It's of the Lord's mercy, the
scripture says, that we're not consumed. God is a consuming
fire, Hebrews 12. Has had mercy. People use that
as a byword, as a just a slip of the tongue, a Lord of mercy,
not knowing that this is God, this is cause for the saints
praise in heaven right now, that those who are in heaven right
now are singing of his mercy. that they're not in hell right
now cursing with the dam, but they're in heaven right now singing
his praises because God had mercy on them. Spare them. There's nobody in heaven who
deserves to be there. And every one of them are singing
of God's mercy. Mercy and truth. See there? For thy truth's sake. Who cares
anything about the truth? Paul told young Timothy, a young
preacher, he warned him, he said, in the latter days, in the last
days, men shall turn away their ears from the truth, unto fables,
make-believe, whatever men come up with. He said they'll turn
away their ears from the truth. They don't like the truth. Read
the Bulletin article by my pastor. It talks about the truth, these
truths. throughout the scripture that
make up the truth, the gospel, these truths of who God is. Men
don't want to hear of a holy and righteous God, a God of wrath
and judgment. They don't want to hear that.
Elijah one time said, Where is the God of judgment? Not hearing
anybody talk about Him. When this whole place is going
to be incinerated by a God, a loving God, it's not the love of God
that's going to destroy it. The wrath of God, the justice
of God, truth, truth, word of truth. Praise God, not on us, not on
us, but praise be unto God through the word of truth. We didn't
believe it either. We didn't hear it. We rejected
it until God sent the word of truth and said, believe. Spirit of truth. arrested Christ,
the truth incarnate, who came and redeemed us. Praise be unto
God. And now David is speaking under
inspiration of the Holy Spirit. This is not David's thoughts
or words, this is God's Word. And he says on behalf of all
of God's people, He says in verse two, why should the, or wherefore,
why should the heathen say, that heathen being those who don't
know the living and true God, those who have another God, small
g, why should the heathen say, where is now their God, their,
that is the God of God's people, the God of God's elect, Israel. He goes on to talk about Israel
and the house of Aaron and those that fear the Lord. He says,
Why should they ask this? Because our God is unseen. You
remember when Paul was preaching at Mars
Hill over in Greece, Athens, Mars Hill? It says his heart was stirred
up in him as he looked around at all the different gods. There
were plaques, there were memorials to all the different gods. You
know, people from all over the world attended these religious
places. The interfaith is what it was.
The ecumenical, the first, one of the first ecumenical movements. All of them with different faiths,
and they had all their gods, small g's. And Paul said, my
heart was stirred in me as I saw all these gods, all these different
notions about God. And he said, I came across a
plaque to the unknown God. He said, that's the one I want
to declare unto you. All those people, those vast
majority of people, he said, Paul said, you don't know God.
It's the unknown God, unseen God that I want to declare unto
you. Before he started speaking, the
people said to him, you have a strange God. We've heard about
this strange God. So different from everybody else's.
Said him, I declare unto you. David declares him unto us. Look at verse two. Our God. No,
you can't see him. Where is he? Verse 3, Our God is in the
heavens. In another place he says the
heavens can't contain him. He said, God dwelleth not in
houses made with hands. He said the heavens cannot contain
him. The earth, it says, is his footstool.
Our God, how great is your God? How big is your God? The heavens. Scientists like to talk about
all the, you know, black holes and they discover solar systems
they didn't know existed. We see, we found, our Hubble
telescope has found a solar system we didn't know existed. Well,
whoopee. The heavens. It's a whole lot
bigger than we think it is. Black holes, what are they? Those
vast, the vast universe that God has made that we don't have
a clue about, and all we see is a hole. And it's infinitely
bigger than the one we live in. Meaning, David, what David is
saying is, he's everywhere. He's omnipresent. everywhere,
a God in whose hands we are. Our God is in the heavens. That's
where He is. What does He do, David? What
does your God do? What can He do? What can your
God do? In a minute, he's going to talk
about their gods, small g, how that they can only do what the
people let him do. Let them do. Allow them to do. David says, Our God, who is God,
through the praise of the glory of his name, he hath done whatsoever
he hath pleased. Not what pleases man. Not what
this person lets him do. Not what man allows him to do.
He wants to do, no sir. Our God, he hath done, will do,
always shall do, whatsoever he hath pleased. That's what his
name means. That's what the name God means. The divine prerogative
to do what he will. Not my will, thy will be done. That's exactly whose will is
being done. That's what it means to glorify
God, to give God the glory. Man has, on the top of his little
buildings, free will. He exalts man's will, man's will. He's giving, he's sharing the
glory. Oh, no, no, no, no, not under
us, not under us. This is the God who does what
he will. With whom he will. Why? Because
he will. He does not give an account of
his matter, as Job said, to anybody. He doesn't have to. I don't walk through my yard
and stop and explain myself to every aunt I see. I don't have
to explain myself to anybody. I'm just a man with a little
tiny yard. owns the universe, everything
and everyone in it. That's what his name means. What
does he do? Whatever he pleases. You can't do that. I just did.
I won't let you do it. That's exactly
what I'm going to do, what you say I cannot do. This is why. Our Lord said in Matthew 7, many
will say unto me, Lord, Lord, this and that and the other.
And he says, I never knew you. I never knew you. I never loved
you. I never revealed myself to you. I never chose you. I
never set my love and affection on you. I didn't send my son
to die for you. And they're all going to be forced
to say, we didn't know you either. We thought we did. We had a conception,
but you're not the God we heard about, not the God that we thought
we knew. We thought we were going to get rewards. We thought we
were going to have a crown and glory, and this and that and
the other. We're not even going to be there. Cast out. Cast out. I'll tell you who's going to
be there. It's everyone who says, with David, not under us. Not
under us. The only people our Lord acknowledged
as doing good works were his people, and they said, when did
we do these things? We don't remember. After we've
done all that is required of us, we're unprofitable servants,
Scripture says. Not under us, not under us, but
under thy name, Jesus Christ. We didn't choose, we didn't will,
we didn't seek until you did. Thy name, that's what his name
means. Our God does as he pleases. because he pleased. Not like the gods of the world.
Now, David goes on to describe them here. See if this sounds
familiar to you. It says, Their idols are silver
and gold. Certainly he's talking about
the idols, the actual statues which men carve and make of their
gods, their thinker gods. The work of men's hands. and
goes on to say they have mouths but they speak not as have they
but they say not have ears but they hear not knows is that they
would. They smell not have hands but they have a lot of feet that
they don't go anywhere don't want me to speak they through
their throat. And you know how how many times. Have you heard a modern so-called
preacher, say this. How many times have you heard
this? God has no hands but your hands, no feet but your feet. Now, does that sound familiar? That's an idol. If someone's
God has no hands but yours, you're God, you're more God than he
is. Scripture says he saves us with
his right hand. It says that God brought his
people out with a mighty hand. He has no hands. How did he create
everything? How did he do anything without
man around? He has eyes, but he doesn't see.
There's a lot he doesn't see. It goes on. Scripture says, God says, Thine
eyes seeeth me. The God before whom all things
are naked and open, the darkness is lightened, the God, Scripture
says. And he says, they that make them,
those that have made these gods up, and that's what they are,
they make believe God, not the God of the Bible. Nowhere in
here does it say he doesn't have any hands, but your hands. Nowhere
in here does it say he can't do anything unless you let him.
Now, that's a God, that's an idol, that's a man-made God.
These idols couldn't do anything unless the fellows that made
them let them. We're going over here, little
God, you want to go with us? There's a door and I'm inside
and he's on the outside and he's knocking, he can't get in. You
want in, little guy? You won't mind if I make fun
of him, will you? David does. Elijah did on Mount Carmel, didn't
he? Huh? Lined up all those false
prophets and said, call on him. Maybe he's sleeping, maybe he's
gone to the bathroom or something. That's what Elijah said. That's
exactly what he said, 1 Kings 18. Where's your God? He's outside
knocking on the door, and I have the power, you see, to let him
in or keep him out. He can't come in here. I have part of the glory. I get
part of the glory. Not under us. A man who knows
God, not under us. Christ said, I am the door. I am the door. Does Shulamite Maiden over in
Psalm of Solomon, it says that the beloved put his hand through
the door. Christ, one time the disciples
were meeting in a room and the door was shut. It says this twice.
The door was shut. It says Christ just appeared. Can't come through the door unless
you have I tell you who can't go through
a door unless who opens it is us. What God opens can't be shut,
and what God shuts can't be opened. He's the one that opens and shuts
the door. Well, he goes on to say, they
that make them are like unto them, that is. Tell me about
these gods that these people, these idols, are dead. They're
dead. That's why David, that's why Scripture calls him the living
God. Are you alive? Well, you have
eyesight, don't you? You have ears, don't you? You
hear right now, don't you? You speak, don't you? You walk,
you go where you will, don't you? You decide to go here, you
decide to go there, you do, don't you? It's because you're a living
being. God is the living God. He goes where he pleases. He
does as he pleases. He sets his eye on whom he pleases.
He hears whom he will. Don't you? My wife accuses me
of having selective hearing. And that's true of everybody.
You know that? That's true of everybody. You can shut people
out. So does God. You don't have to hear anybody. Nobody's worth hearing. Nobody
deserves it. Bunch of God-hating rebels. All mankind. Until God in mercy
Causes them to call on him. Causes them to cry unto him for
mercy. Causes them to repent of their sin. And he turns in
the air. And he hears him. He hears whom he will. He speaks
to whom he will. He saves whom he will. That's too narrow. It's the God
of the Bible. I'm not going to say another
word about him. I've already wasted my breath talking about
him. But he says unto Israel, verse
9, O Israel, trust thou in the Lord. He is their help and their
shield. O Israel, who's Israel? Jacob and all the sons of Jacob. Who's that? A bunch of nobodies
from nowhere, little tiny group of people whom God loved and
God said, Jacob, have I loved? Esau, which makes up a huge group
of people, have I hated? You can't do that. That's what
I've done. I do as I believe. Right? Jacob, have I loved? Set my love on him. Purposed
to love him. There's nothing lovely about
him. But I set my love on him. I purpose to save him, and I
have purpose to work everything in his life, for the rest of
his life, for his good and my glory. Jacob have I loved." See,
Saul? He's a hateful fellow. He's worthy
of hatred. He doesn't deserve the love of
God, so God doesn't love him. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. sons of Jacob." Who are the sons
of Jacob? They're all who, like Jacob,
know that God that God did it all, that God saved them, that
God spared them, that God had mercy upon them, that God provided
for them, that God was gracious to them, that God did it all.
Not under us. Not under who? The sons of Jacob.
Those who say not under us. Not under us. David was of the
house of Jacob. David came from Judah. One of
the sons of Jacob. Oh, happy is he to have the God
of Jacob. Oh, Israel, you sons of Jacob,
trust now in the Lord. Don't trust in... For the life
of me, I don't understand why people call on a God who can't
do anything unless men let Him do it. Why? Well, if Satan's
having his way and God wants to and can't and lets men, but
Satan's absolutely having his way, he's doing whatever, God
didn't want that to happen, but Satan did and Satan did it, then
why don't you pray to Satan? Ask him to stop. What's the sense
in praying to this God? That's what it means to trust
him. For the life of me, I don't understand why anybody trusts
and calls upon a God who can't do anything. Huh? Oh, Israel, oh, you sons of Jacob,
trust, believe, rest, rely upon, depend upon, stand firm on the
God of Jacob, the God of Israel. He is your help, was it not?
He's the only help you're going to get. You can't help yourself. God doesn't help those who help
themselves. It's not in the Bible. God helps the helpless. That's
what Scripture says. Those that are without strength,
He gives strength. He's their help, the help of
everyone who's helpless. God is their help. God is their
strength. Oh, my. House of Israel, trust
in the Lord. Oh, Israel, depend upon the Lord. If the Lord is your shepherd,
if the Lord is your shepherd, You shall not want. You're going to walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, but you will fear no evil. Fine. He's with you. He said he'd be. He said he'd
never leave you for a second. Trust him. Rest him. Stay right
there. See, there, God, you've got to
walk that lonesome valley. You've got to walk it by yourself.
Ain't nobody else going to walk it with you. You can have that
religion. Now, there's two sets of footprints,
you know. And then there's one. You walk a little while and then
He carries you a little while. That's not what Isaiah 46 says
as Nancy. It says, He carries us from the
womb until your hoary head, until your gray hair. He carries you.
How far? All the way. That's the God you need to trust
in. Oh, Israel. I'm looking at Israel. Trust in thee, Lord. He's your
help. He's been the help there. He
calls them there. All throughout this, he's their
help. Who's help? Everybody that trusted him. He's their help. He's their strength. Oh, let's
ask old Elijah. Elijah, how'd you stand? How
did you stand before all those enemies and for all the world
and hate how I couldn't have. I wouldn't have. God is my help. My strength. My protection. My shield. My shield. So, Paul, who protected you everywhere
you went? They were bound and determined
to kill you. Who protected you? God is my
shield. I am mortal until God is through
with it. God said, God said, I kill. I make a lot. God's the
one to kill. Nobody can kill me. And just
like Jesus Christ said, no man taketh my life from me, it's
the same with every one of his people. Every one of them. Oh, Israel. He's the God that
don't fear this and fear that. Fear God. He's the first cause of all things.
He controls all things. There's not a germ in the universe
that God Almighty doesn't control. If he doesn't, he's not God.
Then chance, luck, and just happenstance, and fate, and this and that and
the other is in control. It must be so. Our atomic bomb
is made of atoms. It must be so. What does it mean? Look at verse
10. Oh, house of Aaron, trust in the Lord. House of Aaron makes
up all those who were the ministers of God, meaning the priests of
old, the prophets of old, and on and on it goes, the apostles,
evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Don't trust anybody or anything. Don't rely upon anything or anybody
but God. True preachers don't rely upon
their business gimmicks and tactics and tricks and all that to bring
in God's people. They rely on God. True preachers
believe the Holy Spirit is the one who draws people, not bake
sales. True preachers, like Abraham,
says, My God shall provide. It won't take a dime from anybody.
It won't ask anybody for money. True preachers know God says,
all the gold and the silver and all the mines are mine. You go ask men for what belongs
to God? You will excuse me for getting
excited, won't you? I'm trying to give God all the
glory. I'm trying to show the difference
between our God, thee God, and their God. Their God needs a
bake sale. Their God needs a rummage sale. Needs women to make apple pies
to do His work. What kind of God is that? The people of Israel were leaving
Egypt, and God told the Egyptians, Give them all your money! Ha! Give them all your money! They're
going to need some money and things along the way. Who did
that? People didn't ask for it. God
said, Give it to them. God gave the command. Gone! Gone! Oh, house of Aaron! You preachers
of God, don't trust anybody or rely upon or use any means whatsoever
other than one thing. Don't rely on any means whatsoever
other than one thing, which God said, do. Preach the word. And he said, stand back and watch.
It's the word of my power. I will cause men to do this,
do that, do this. My word He upholds. He created
all things by His word. He sustains all things by His
word. He moves upon people by His word. He does all things
by His word, not men's methods. That way you stand back and watch
God move. He told Moses, stand still and
see. Don't do anything. Don't get
down there in the water and try to part it. Just stand still.
Watch. And after it's all over, you
know, you know, everybody knows it's the Lord that did that. Not my gimmicks, not my tactics,
not my methods, not my soul winning this, not bribery, not this and
that and the other. God did that. God did that. And whatever God does, How long
does it last? It's forever. This is what arrested
my pastor. Years ago he was in false religion
and a thousand members in Sunday school. He was a pastor of a
so-called church with a thousand members. Now today that would
be a mitigated success, wouldn't it? Is that the word? I tried
to use a big word. It's probably wrong. That's what
I get. Anyway, he was a success in religion,
and he said after one of those big revivals where hundreds of
people came down, a couple of weeks later he looked up and
he said, and this is one of the things that began to arrest his
attention. He said he looked up and he said,
where are all those people that God saved? Where are they? And it started that young, 21-year-old
religious boy lost as a goose, a preacher, started him thinking. That's what we did. We produced
that with our gimmicks and tactics and our soft music and emotion
and all that. We did all that, and none of
them here. What God does is what happens. That's the reason you want God
to do it. You want a hand. Not unto us. Not unto us. Yeah, we won so many. Not unto
us. Paul, a true preacher, they ask
him how many people he baptized. You've got to report, you know,
to the convention every month. How many? Paul says, I don't
know. I don't remember. I think three. They would have kicked him out
of the Southern Baptist Convention, the Apostle Paul. Three. He said, God didn't send me to
baptize, to count heads, see how many I could get under the
water. We can do that easy enough. We can threaten kids with hell
and get them all running up here. Oh, House of Aaron. You see why
he says that? Oh, house of Aaron. Trust in
the Lord. He's your help. He's your shield. Everybody will hate you for telling
the truth. That's what Christ said. They'll
hate you. They'll think when they kill you, they do God a
service. But don't you fear them. You go into all the world and
you preach the gospel. I mean the gospel. They're going
to hate you for it. And they're going to try to kill
you. They're going to try. But they can't. Until I say so. Until I'm through
with you. And then it's not them, it's
me. I say, come home. I'm done with you. He's their help. He's their shield. Oh, ye that fear the Lord. Fear
the Lord? That's an unknown concept today,
isn't it? You don't even hear the word
anymore. I used to say that about people back in Years ago he was
a God-fearing man. You never hear it ever. Every one of God's people are
God-fearing people. They fear the Lord. This is the
beginning of wisdom. They fear the Lord. And it's
saving wisdom. In all their days they fear the
Lord. It says, You that fear the Lord,
trust in the Lord. Doesn't sound like the two go
together, does it? You give me a few more minutes, please, because
I want to get to the next couple of verses for your comfort, for
God's glory. You're going to be glad. But
does fear and trust sound like it goes together? It doesn't,
does it? Let me illustrate this, OK? Fear,
what it means to fear the Lord is to realize something of His
sovereignty, of His absolute holiness. justice and sovereign
power and authority to do what he will with them that's the
only person you fear that's the only way you'll fear God is to
realize something of his absolute sovereignty. There's no perfect
love cast out there you don't fear a God whose all you know
about him is love you don't nobody fears a God like that. But fear is to realize something
of a God who does as he pleases with whom he pleases in my life,
my breath, my soul, my all is in his hands, and I've sinned
against this God, and I'm still sinning against this God. So
this man, when I look, he was poor and the contract trembled. Paul said of most folks then
and now, there is no fear of God before their eyes, Romans
3, 18. No fear of God before their eyes. They don't need to
fear the God today. But when Saul of Tarsus met the
Lord, the Lord, when he met Him, what happened to him? Huh? What happened to him? When Saul
of Tarsus met the Lord, who are we talking about? Jesus Christ.
He didn't know Him. He thought he was going to go
down there and do something with these Jews. And he was riding his high
horse into town, and the Lord, the Lord put him in the dirt. I mean, put him in the dirt on
his face. Not a loving God, a holy and
just and sovereign God making this man see who he is and his
life was in His hands. Put him in the dirt. What did
Paul say? What will you do with me? See, Paul was going down the
road to do what he pleased, with whom he pleased, a man, a free
will preacher. Jesus Christ put him in the dirt. And then he said, from then on,
I'm at your disposal. I will do what you tell me to
do. Not vice versa. He began to fear Jesus. He said, Who are you? I don't
even know who you are. He said, I'm Jesus. The man? I'm more than a man, aren't I? I've got your life in my hands
right now. Lord! At the name of Jesus, whoever
he deals with, they say, Lord. Sovereign reign, ruler. Lord. Well, I've got to hold something
here today, folks. This is what it's all about.
This is what heaven's all about. It's
full of people worshiping the Lord. People who are there because
he brought them there by his mercy and grace. The Lord. I was going to illustrate, wasn't
I? That wasn't it. Fear and trust
don't sound like they go together let me illustrate my dog fears
me my dog. And you've heard about him you've
probably seen. That. Abner loves me. I love that. I really do. I chose it. Didn't I mean I went there I
bought him. I paid money for him. Abner didn't
choose me. There was eleven puppies in that
litter. I chose him. He was the only black one in
there. I chose him. He wasn't a show dog. He still
was not a show dog. He wouldn't win a ribbon. Fourth
place. Eleventh place. I chose him. I brought him home with me. He
didn't do that. I love him. I trained him. If
I hadn't, he'd have been a wild dog. I trained him. All right? But Abner fears me. Yes, he does. He fears me. I've never abused that dog. Have
I ever abused that dog? Never. Have I chastened him? That's why he's a good dog. He fears me. He fears me. He comes on board. He comes on
his head now. He doesn't come proud and haughty
and say, Hey, you give me my food. No, sir. He comes wagging his tail and
closing his eyes and his head down. I've never abused that
dog. But he fears me. Does he trust me? Absolutely. For everything. I've never let him down yet.
He's never been without, he's never lacked anything, all the
days of his life. Now there's some neighborhood
dogs in this new neighbor, a new neighbor, dogs of our neighbors
in a new neighborhood we're moving in. They don't fear me. One of them came in the house
and peed. Absolutely. Came in the house
where the door was open. We were building a house for
business. That ain't fear. That's haughtiness. Marking a
spot, you know. And they do strut around that.
They bark at my car. If the opportunity would arise,
I'd kill me some dogs. And I mean it. They should not trust me. One of those dogs will be a fool,
trust me. You understand? Does that make
good sense? They don't fear me. So they better
not trust me. As a matter of fact, I did get
a BB gun. And there's been times when those
dogs thought, what? Just bit me. They come on my property. I don't
want them around. Don't trust me. I'd kill you
if I could. Does that make sense? Those that fear
the Lord. I'm not going to hurt my dog,
no way. You that fear the Lord, trust
Him. Does that make sense? You that
fear the Lord, You know you're not going to call it just you
know. Good for nothing that's right
early not much different. This mess everything. If you're
fearing you trust. You trust. because it says that
he'd been mindful of us. I had to get to that. He's been
mindful of us, John. What is man that God is mindful
of him? Romans, Psalm 80. What is man? Why would God think
about anybody? Ants, grasshoppers. Oh, he's been mindful of us.
It says, mind on him. He will bless us. Will. Not might. It will if you If no will if
you is never say he will if you don't know he will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel.
He will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless his preacher. He
will bless his people. He will bless them that fear
the Lord both small and great. Well, I don't have much faith.
Do you have any at all? Well, I think that he will bless you.
He already has. He will by the Lord shall increase
you more and more. That doesn't mean in numbers.
That means you. will increase. You'll get fat, spiritually fat, while the world is in famine. And your children. Why not rely
on the Lord, Brother Wesley, to do what he said, train up
a child in the way it should go when he's old and not depart
from it? Why not? Just why not trust the Lord? He can't lie. Why not? Well, who else are you going
to trust in? Christian education. Now, trust in the Lord. Trust
in the Lord. Bring them here. Keep bringing
them here. The Lord shall increase. You're blessed of the Lord. You
are. You're blessed of the Lord. If you're hearing this, you're
blessed of the Lord, which made heaven and earth. The heaven,
even the heavens, everything is the Lord. The earth, he hath
given to the children of men. What does that mean? It means
that, you know, it seems like man is in charge of this earth,
that he's given men to it and given it over to men. Yes, but
it's the Lord. Doesn't Psalm 24 say the earth
is the Lord's in the fullness thereof? That's not a contradiction.
Those in the world, of the world and given to the world and the
world given to them, the world's in their heart, they're going
to get what the world gets. What? Destruction. And the dead, those that are
dead and trespassing the sea, they don't praise the Lord, verse
17, neither any that go down into silence, but we, those whom
God is mindful of, those whom God has blessed, we bless the
Lord. We give Him all of it right now,
from this time, this time, today. You know, there's different days
set aside for this and that and the other. They always fall on
Sunday, Mother's Day and all that. We're never going to devote
one single day to Mother, never. We're not going to do it. This
is the Lord's Day. Every time we meet together is
the Lord's Day. And those that put in us, not
in us. My mother would have been My
mother and I would have been heathens dancing around a pole
if it wasn't for the mercy and grace of God. Not under my mother,
not under my father, but under thy name. Get all the glory. And right now, and from this
time and forevermore, we're going to praise the Lord. We're going
to give him all the glory, all of it. And man doesn't like it
because man is a vainglorious person. He likes to have some
of it no matter how little he can get he likes to have some
of it. Not the God lover, not the God
worshipper. Don't want any of it. None of
it. None of it. OK. you