This morning, that one, there
is a fountain, and Kumbau Fountain, not there is a fountain, Alpharma Foundation, there is
a fountain is the third of my favorite. I want that sung at
my funeral. My wife one time was riding along
with a lady in town here, very religious, and she wanted to
play her modern so-called gospel music on her radio, or on her
tape player, and it began to play, and my wife said to her,
I'd rather not listen to that. And the woman was shocked. But
it's gospel. No, it is not, she said. No gospel
in it. his flesh. And she said to my
wife, she said, y'all probably sing those old hymns, don't you? She said, wait, she said, that's
so boring. And that's fitting, you know,
because the world needs elaborate, feel-good music and so forth. By and large, they do not have
a clue what the words are, but the music makes them feel good.
Now, I liken the music of a hymn, and I love music. I liken the
music to the flesh and the words to the spirit. Without the word, flesh is of no profit. Flesh
profit is nothing. The most beautiful music in the
world won't profit you anything. It sends chills up your spine.
That doesn't do anything for your soul. There's a lot of secular music
that sends chills up my spine. The thing that is glorifying
the God and edifying the God's people is the message. And this is why the old fathers
and so forth didn't really believe in music. They were wrong, but
what they wanted and their motive was good. They didn't want the
message to get lost in the midst of all that music. So happy are you if you know
the joyful sound. What is it? Music? No, no, no,
no. The joyful sound is the gospel. And these, you know, whenever
Sherry's playing a prelude and so forth, I love the hymn, the
very tunes that she played, but it suggests to my mind the words
of that hymn. She sang, close to thee, close
to thee. She chose that well. David said,
it is good for me that I draw near to God. That's the purpose
of singing these hymns. It's the glory of God, not to
make us feel good. Alright, Psalm 73 has a little
mini-message on music. Mini-message on music. Psalm 73. Now, it's unclear who
the writer of this psalm is. It doesn't really matter. It's
either a man named Asaph, who was a musician, a court or king-appointed
musician, or David or someone else, but
it does not matter. God inspired someone to write
this, one of his servants. And a verse that I quote quite
often from Romans 15 to you, verse 4, says this. Whatsoever
things were written, whatsoever things were written, talking
about the Old Testament, were written for our learning. Whoever
it was that wrote this, doesn't matter, God had them write this
for us. Several thousand years later,
it's written for our learning, for the instruction of God's
people. That we listen that we through patience. This is the
story is about a man who lost his patience. A believer who
lost his patience is that we through patient what is patient
is waiting on God's will and purpose to be known. It's to
be still. Stand still and see the salvation
of our God. that we through patience and
comfort of the Scriptures. This song will be of great comfort. We should find great comfort
in seeing how our God reigns and rules and purposes all things,
that God hath made all things for himself, even the wicked.
For the day of evil, Proverbs 16. It should give us great comfort
that we might have hope. We live by hope, we're saved
by hope. Hope, not a wish, a wish, a hope across the finger. That's
not the hope he's talking about. It's called hope because we're
not there yet, but it's a good hope. It's a sure hope. Christ
is our hope. Hope, Paul wrote, of eternal
life, which God God who cannot lie has promised. So it's as sure as God. So these
things are written for our learning, for our patience, and for our
comfort that we might have hope. All right, this psalm is full
of instruction. Now, there are many of you who
love Psalm 37, don't you? I know one person in here loves
Psalm 37, fret not thyself, because of evil doers. Trust in the Lord,
commit thy way unto the Lord, rest in the Lord, and so forth
and so on. There's a good way to think of this, and this is
no mere coincidence. The subject of both Psalms is
identical. 73, 37. Backwards and forwards, the same
exact subject. This is about a believer, a child
of God, a son of God, who's full of doubt, full of doubt about
his self, full of doubts about the future, and what all that
is is unbelief. He's full of unbelief. He's lost
his confidence in the purpose of God. He begins to be envious
at the world, the rich and famous. He's looking around him at the
rich and famous, and he's looking at himself and all his troubles
and trials, and he's bitter. And he briefly, briefly, thinks
that his religion is all vain. That's why I entitled this message,
Temporary Insanity. of God's people. We all have
it. And so he briefly is not thinking right. And he's envious
of the world. He's bitter at his own situation. And he brought to himself when,
when he comes right where you've come this morning, to the house
of God, to hear the Word of God. And then it all clears up. He's
brought back to his right mind. And it hurts him. It hurts him
that he was so foolish, that he could have gotten in such
a state. Is this your song? It's mine. He says in verse one, truly,
God is good to Israel. Truly. God is good to Israel. How good has God been to you
up to this point? The disciples, you know, they
went through their share of troubles, they went through their share
of persecution and sorrow and doubts and fears and all that.
After three and a half years, the Lord finally turned to them
and said, while I was with you, been with you all this time,
did you lack anything? Nothing, not one. Truly, God is good to Israel,
isn't He? You think about Israel, think
back, and David, Asaph, whoever it is, is recalling the lives
of Israel. God's people, Jews. He's thinking
about Abraham. Oh, God was good to Abraham,
wasn't He? Abraham didn't have a home. He never had a home. Abraham never had a home. He dwelled in tents all his life. Run! He pitched a tent all his
life. But he was fine. Isaac, his whole
family was with him, traveling like nomads. It was God good
to Abraham. Jacob, what about old Jacob? Old Jacob. Oh, that's why we
say, happy is he. I have the God of Jacob for his
help, because God is good to Israel. Those that are his choice. Joseph. Oh, but Joseph was put
in prison. Oh, but Joseph went through.
So they maligned him, they persecuted him and said, oh man, he was
evil, falsely. and put him in chain. Oh, God was good to Joseph,
wasn't he? Temporary, that light affliction,
oh, it worked for him an exceeding weight of glory. Joseph, Moses,
his life was in danger from his birth, cast out on the water,
on the sea. God's good in And on and on we'd go. Rahab,
Boaz, Ruth. Poor Ruth. Look what she went
through. Oh, wasn't God good to Ruth?
Truly, God is good to Israel, to such as are of a clean heart. The writer says, but for me.
In other words, he's saying, I don't
think I'm one of Israel. Am I, am I? He said, I don't
know. He said, my feet were almost
gone. Notice the almost. My feet were almost gone. My
steps, and well, I slept. I was ready to go down. Going down. And whoever the writer
is, was full of doubts, full of fears, full of unbelief. Envy
consumed him. Why? He's looking at the world. This
is what brought all that on. He's looking at the world, looking
at all the troubles, he's looking at all the prosperity. He's got his eye on the world. And not Christ. He's taken his
eye off of Christ. And the minute we do that, We'll
be full of unbelief, we'll be full of doubts and fears and
troubles and bitterness and envy, won't we? We can look around
us, look at it. Verse three, he said, I was envious
of the foolish. Why would you envy a fool? We
do, don't we? Who is a fool? He's going to
go on to talk about the wicked. The wicked, the wicked, the wicked.
Who is a wicked man? It's those that don't know God
and that don't know Christ and don't care if they know God or
care if they know Christ. It's unbelievers. It's anybody who doesn't worship God, doesn't
know Christ, does not believe Christ and lay hold on
sin. It's wicked. It doesn't matter if they're
religious, they're still wicked. It doesn't matter if they're
the most immoral man on earth or the most moral man on earth,
if they don't worship God in spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus,
they're wicked. As a matter of fact, our Lord
called religion workers of iniquity. Most of it. Workers of iniquity. They're doing it for their glory.
And they, whoever the writer is, says, I was envious of the
health and wealth and prosperity of the foolish, of the godless,
of the wicked. And boy, this sure applies to
religion, doesn't it? They can't build enough buildings,
big enough to house the crowds that they're getting. And I've
just got to admit, be honest with you. That sometimes I think,
is this the true gospel? Are we just being exclusive? I just imagine Noah thought that,
didn't he? I just imagine for a brief time,
he got out of his mind just briefly and thought, Noah thought, God's
going to destroy all these people. We're the only one. Well, he says, I was envious
at the prosperity of the wicked. Verse 4 and 5, there are no bands
in their death, their strength is firm. They're not in trouble
as other men. They're not plagued like other men. In other words,
they defy death. They're fearless in the face
of death. They don't seem to have the troubles of heart, mind,
and soul. Not plagued like I am, just happy-go-lucky,
all to eat, drink, and be merry. Oh, what if we die? They don't
seem to be concerned about that. I told you, well, you know, God's people fear death,
naturally speaking. They fear it because they fear
God. But when the time comes, when
they really need dying grace, they'll get it. And they won't
be any fear. They'll pass through the valley
of death without fear. But the world doesn't seem to
have any fear of it. They just try to defy it. Defy God, tempt God. Verse 6
says, Pride compasseth them about as a chain, and violence covereth
them as a This chain is talking about an adornment, like wearing
a gold, big flashy gold necklace. These two things, these are the
two characteristics of this generation. Pride and violence. Proud, arrogance, haughty. Violent,
going to dog eat dog, that's for sure. Verse seven says their
eyes stand out with fatness they have more than heart could wish.
Some of you old folks have you ever known a generation more
affluent than this one if you were just read history the Roman
Empire paled in comparison. The United States of America
and its riches the whole world for that matter has never been
a richer time in the history of mankind. Literally, men and
women have more than they could even conjure up. Untold millionaires
all over the world, even billionaires. It's unfathomable. You just ride
down the road from here 20 miles and see mansions that you just
can't fathom. Where is all this money coming
from? Fraud, deceit, wickedness, you
name it. They have more than heart could wish.
Verse 8 says they're corrupt. That's why they have more than
heart could wish. Dishonest, liars, cheats, thieves.
Read on. They corrupt. They speak wickedly
concerning oppression. That is how they dominate and
how they got this and that and the other and speak loftily.
Call this the land of the lawyer. You look in the Yellow Pages.
What's the leading profession in there? Lawyers. And what is
their primary source of income? Litigation. Meaning they sue
people. And it's all corrupt. Corrupt. We about made one of them a vice
president of the United States. Now, this does not speak of any
time more clearly than now. They speak wickedly concerning
oppression. We took them. Got that settlement. Verse 9 says, They set their
mouth against heaven, cursing God, man, woman, and child. Cursing God today. No, God is
not in their thoughts, but He sure is on their lips. And their
tongue walketh through the earth, meaning in the gutter, dirty,
filthy, and also meaning they talk about anything and everything.
No, everything. Ask them. Turn on the TV. There's
a hundred and zillion shows that everybody knows everything. And
people pay a big money. What do you think when you see
all this, when you hear all this mess? You turn it on, you're
bombarded with it. What do you think? Verse 10 says,
His people, God's people, return hither. You see, the writer of
this, he's come back where he belongs. He's been away a while. He's been out of his head a little
while. He's been out in the world. Envious
at the world and thinking, I want some of that. And bitter at his
own lack of or whatever, his own plight. But God in mercy
and grace brings him back where he belongs among God's people.
Puts him in his right mind. He comes back to where the truth
is known. The truth. The truth will set
you free from what? Everything that we're captivated
by. Doubts, fears, worries, envy,
lust. The truth. Truth of it all. Truth of God. Truth of man. Truth
of eternal life. The truth sets you free from
all this. All this world will bring you
under its bondage, sin and corruption. And it says, His people return
hither. They come back here. And the waters of a full cup
are wrung out to them. Waters of bitterness and anger
and fear Whatever emotion you can feel,
we're full of it, aren't we? Hatred. I told a fellow on the
phone one time concerning these false prophets, I said, I hate
them. He couldn't believe it when I
said that. I do. I say that with David. And like John and Jane, I want
to call down fire. Don't you? But more than anything,
I'm angry at myself. It's me that I get more angry
with than anybody else. How about you? Have a full cup
of emotions. Don't you? You can run the gamut
of emotions, don't you? And they, going back to the wicked,
verse eleven, say, How doth God know? Is there knowledge in the
most high? Peter said that, didn't he? He said, Marker, scoffers,
where is the promise of his coming? Doesn't God see this? No, don't
believe in that. Behold, these are the ungodly,
verse twelve, who prosper in the world. They increase in riches. How? How do people prosper? Let's just stop for a second
and ask this question. Where did they get it all? Where do they get it all? Man can receive nothing except
to be given. Do they acknowledge God? reading I was reading a story
in the paper the other day one of these cancer survivors. Who congratulate themselves on
surviving cancer and they all have this club where they all
congratulate one another they must be stronger and more more
was resolute than the people that didn't make it. At any rate, reading this full
page article by this person who survived cancer, God's name was
not mentioned one time. Not one time. And these people,
I know them personally, they're religious. I mean real religious. And they didn't bring up God's
name for the life of their daughter. And God, what they are. Prosper
in the world, increasing riches. Now look at what the writer says.
Verse 13. Now he's thinking out loud here.
He's thinking to himself. I'm glad I'm so glad that the
Lord had this man write his thoughts down. We hide our thoughts, don't
we? We don't tell everything we're
thinking, do we? We don't want people to think,
well, are you an unbeliever? Are you a heathen? What's wrong
with you? But this man is just filling it all out, confessing. He says, I have cleansed my heart
in vain. I've washed my hands in innocence.
This is all in vain. All my religion is in vain. Why? Because he says, I'm plagued
all day long. They don't have these troubles
that I have. Don't seem to. Chastened every morning, I'm
just beset behind and before with troubles, mostly within.
I wake up and I battle this fellow. They don't seem to have this
problem. Is their religion true? In my vein? They seem to have this peace
and so forth, they seem to have this joy and so forth, and I
don't always have it. All day long, nothing but trouble,
sorrow, struggles with sin, in the world, with myself. Now he
said, now he's thinking out loud, and he says in verse 15, look
at this, He says in verse fifty if I say if I speak this way
if I speak out loud if I talk to other people. If I if I say
this in front of. My brethren I should offend against
the generation of God's children. You know we had these thoughts
of doubts and fears and so forth and our own trouble and wonder,
is this all in vain? But don't express it. Don't say
it out loud. We need to think of those who've
gone before us. Every time we get full of these
doubts and fears, thinking this religion, this is all in vain. Everybody that's honest in here
will admit to that. It started with me. Thought,
oh, what's the use in this little struggle? I'm going to leave
and go get me a job, earn some big money and do this and that
and don't have all the... Everybody here has thought the
same thing. But think about those who have
died in the faith. Those who have gone before us
and died in the faith. And if we say that, we're saying
That Ellen Fralin died in vain. That Linda Stoniker died in vain. That Joe Parks, his fate, all
that meant nothing. You know, that's how serious
it is. That's what the writers say. Oh boy. He says in verse 16, when I thought
this way, it hurt me. It hurt my heart. It was too painful for me. How
could I think like that? Well, what brought him to his
right mind? He's out of his head. He's temporarily
insane. That's what a man, a woman, a
young person who doesn't know God and doesn't care, who doesn't
know Christ and doesn't care, who doesn't worship God with
all that God requires. That's what they are. They're
insane. It's insanity. To shake the fist in the face
of the one in whose hands you are. Isn't that utter insanity? Utter insanity. But the Scripture
says, thank God, we have the mind of Christ. God has abounded
toward us in wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the
mystery of his will. And here it is, look at this,
verse 17, he said, I was out of my mind until I went into
the sanctuary of God. Then understood I there, and
here's the key to it all. Therein, turn with me to Psalm
37. Go back there. You said that
that's the same subject, and it is. Therein, Moses' song. Moses' song in Deuteronomy 32,
which we're going to sing for eternity. We're going to sing
it for eternity. Moses' song is the one they're
singing in the Revelation right now. Helen and Joseph and all
these we mentioned, and myriads of others are singing that song
right now. And in Moses' song it says, Oh,
that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would
consider their latter end, their latter end. It doesn't matter
how you start. It doesn't matter what, how you
begin. It doesn't matter how it's going
for you or what it looks, how things look like now. That doesn't
matter. Oh, that sure looks good. Wait. This is what this is teaching
us. It's the end that matters. How's this thing going to end
up? How is it going to end up? Well,
I'll tell you from God's Word how it will end up for them and
for us. For every single person who loves
God, who trusts Christ, every single one. Let me tell you from
God's Word. Look at it. Psalm 37. Look at
verse 37 and 38. Mark the perfect man, behold
it upright. The end of that man is peace. We don't. But the transgressors
shall be destroyed together. End of the wicked. Cut off. That is out of God's sight. Bind
them, hand them, foot them, cast them. Separate the sheep from
the goats. Come, beloved of my Christ speaking. Sheep, goats. End of all sheep. Eternal, unspeakable,
inexpressible joy. End. Eternal, unspeakable, inexpressible
suffering. Now, let's look at things with eyes
wide open. Look at it. Back in our text,
in verse 18, it says, Thou didst set them in slippery places.
Now, the writer is saying, I have well and I slipped. He's walking along by faith,
walking, but just to live by faith. Walk by faith. We walk
by faith, not by sight. You know, look around, look around,
look up and all that. I'm headed in one direction. I'm headed
to Christ. I'm headed where I ought to be headed. I look around and
I'm about to slip. About to slide on down into the
abyss where they're all slid. Into the pit where everybody
else is in. About ready to take another dive, Kelly. What we did before, that's where
he got us from, about ready to dive back in. Boy, if that isn't
insanity. The dog returning to his vomit.
The sow to the waller in his mire. Isn't that idiocy? Peter said he, after he's been
cleansed, returns to it. It's better if he had not known
it. He said, my feet were well and I slipped. But they didn't. And we're going to see in a minute
why they didn't. But God says He set them in slippery
places. Oh, they seem firm. Their strength
is firm. He said, I thought, no sir, they're
in slippery places. hanging over hell on a thread. God cast them down into destruction. And He does that in a moment.
Look at that. Verse 19 says, How are they in desolation? As
in a moment. I thought about this in relation
to my father-in-law, whose life is in the balance right now.
And so many other people all over the world. So many other
people. And it may happen to us. Well,
it will happen. But at one minute, you're walking
along. We took my father-in-law, a strong,
robust man of the picture of health, took him to the hospital.
He walked in the hospital, committed himself into the hospital, lay
down on the table, submitted to all that. Moments. It's gone. Gone. Everything.
Everything he worked for all his life is gone. I mean gone right now. Gone! Nothing matters. I mean in a moment it's all over. Now tell me what is vain? Tell me about vanity. What's
vanity? The world and the flesh and everything
we work our life for to be consumed in a moment? Or an eternity? Something's out
there. Even the absolute fool will acknowledge
that. And a man or a woman or a young
person that rejects the Lord Jesus Christ For some bloomin'
idiot or some bloomin' idiotic thing is a fool. A fool. And whoever and whatever
it is is going to leave you. You're going to lose it. One
way or the other you're going to lose it or it's going to leave
you. It's all vanity. It won't give you anything that
you're looking for. None of it. None of it. None
of it. Relationship. None of it. Solomon
wrote a whole book about it. But we're so stupid. Verse after
verse after verse tells us penitence, penitence. Solomon said, I tried
this, I tried that, I tried this, I tried that. I had a thousand
wives that didn't do me any good. I had a thousand homes that didn't
do me any good. I had all my happiness. I got
drunk. I got happy. I got partied. Nothing
did me any good. It was vanity of vanity. Why?
Because we all die in a moment. Die, then what? Then what? Job had it all, richest man on
the planet. Lost it all in a moment. Who
gave it to him? God gave it to him. Who took
it away? God took it away. But there's
one thing God didn't take from Job. The root of the matter was
in him. And he lost it all, and he said,
now, this one thing I know. My Redeemer liveth. And he shall stand at the latter
day on this earth. And though worms destroy my body,
yet with my eyes, my eyes shall see him and not another. So it didn't matter. He had a
lot or had a little. It didn't matter. Because God is our portion. And he says
in verse 20, as a dream, when one awaketh the Lord, when he
awakes, it's He's using the analogy of a sleeping giant being woken. He's not asleep. He that keepeth
Israel doesn't slumber or sleep. But that's what the world's going
to think. We've woke up a giant. We've been defying our God all
this time, and now he's awake. And it says, terrorists utterly consume them.
And so, he says in verse 21, my heart was great, I was pricked
in my brain, I was so foolish. I can't be so foolish to think
like fools. God's people aren't fools. They
act like it at times, they think like them at times. But they're not fools, because
God has made us wise unto salvation. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. Knowing Christ is wisdom. We have the mind of Christ,
not the wisdom of this world. the wisdom which God teacheth,
don't we? Huh? But we act like fools and
we admit it to God and to one another. I was so foolish, I
was ignorant. I was as a beast. I know better
than a dog. You know, a human being who all
he thinks about or she thinks about is eating, drinking, and
sex is no better than a dog. You know, a human being That
all they think about, I'll say it again because it gets everyone's
attention, and all they think about is eat, drink, and sex
is no better than a hound dog. And that's how they're going
to die. Like a dog. That's a fact. And the writer says, I was like
a beast. I was such a beast. Verse 23.
Nevertheless, I got down and just like everybody
else, so envious and just well and I slipped. I started to run
with them again and I wasn't thinking, I was insane. Just
full of envy and set my mind again on things, below on this
earth, and how just well my slip. But he didn't. He didn't. Why didn't he? Because, look it, because I'm
continually with thee. Thou hast holden me by my right
hand. He's somebody, Kelly, has got
a hold of us. Aren't you glad, huh? The whole
world, the religious world in particular, hates the thought
of God being in control. Every believer thinks it's about
the most wonderful thing they've ever heard. That God actually
has a hold of them. That'd make you a puppet. Don't
cut the strings. Lord, please, don't cut that
cord. that you've drawn me with and
have a hold of. Please, Lord, don't let me off the leash. Don't
let me off the leash. I'll run as far from you as I
can and I'll kill myself. I'll get in with a pack of wild
dogs and get just like them. Lord, please don't turn me loose
for a moment." Peter. The Lord did. Peter did. And that's why Peter wrote that
letter to us. He said, hey, we're kept by the
power of God. We're kept by the power of God.
We don't keep ourselves. The writer didn't keep himself.
He was down. He wasn't thinking. He was out
of his mind. But God brought him back to his
right mind. Brought him back to his right
mind. Psalm 37 says this, ìThe steps
of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in
his way, though he fall, heíll not be utterly cast down,
because the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.î You get tired
of hearing about my old dog Abner, but as old as he is, and as well
as Iíve taught him, thereís still time when he just wants to run
off. And as long as I'm with him, he's not going to do that. He's just not going to do it.
He tries, and I scold him. I say, don't you have to learn
anything? Well, we live in the city now,
and it's hard to tell the street from the sidewalk for a dog,
you know. He said, can I cross here? Can I walk on this hard
stuff here? This is the same thing. No, that's
pavement. This is concrete. He doesn't
understand. And there's all the time I say,
don't you, what, we've lived here for six months now. Don't
you know the difference? Now he's a dog. And dogs gonna act like dogs.
No matter what you do, they're gonna act like dogs at times.
It's the nature of the beast. And so we, and we got a, but
we got a good master who understand, who knows our frame, who remembers
that we're flesh. And bless God, like I said, every
now and then, Abner will stop. He'll heal. And that's what our God
does to us. He's lay hold of us. Now, Ted,
you want to be independent or you want somebody to lay hold
of you? Sinners, no. They know. Oh, and he says, and this is
the heart's cry of every, he said, now I was looking at all
this stuff. But he says in verse 25, Oh,
whom have I in heaven? What do I look for? Why do you
long to leave this place? For the true believer is to see
him. And this, you can really gauge someone's true desire by
that. Everybody, even the wicked, want
a carnal utopia where there's no trouble. But that's not why
God's people want to leave here and go to heaven, so to speak. It's because they don't see Christ. He says, Whom have I in heaven
but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. That's why God's people will
forsake father, mother, children, husband, wife, children, son
or daughter, homes, lands, their own life. That's love. That's what love does. It leaves
father and mother to cleave unto the loved one. There's no getting
around it. That's just the way it is. I
was talking to Brother Sammy about that precious child of
his. I said, you know real love now, don't you? I mean, you lay
down your life in a moment, a second, you wouldn't even think about
it. It wouldn't even be a choice. He gives you everything. That's the way it is for the
believer with Christ. That's just the way it is. Is that a good portion? We're
going to find out. Look at this first. I've got
to get to this. He says, My flesh Here's what I wanted to show
you. Verse 24, Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward
receive me to glory. God will teach his people by
his Spirit, and afterward receive up unto glory. I wish I had another 30 minutes.
Glory. We saw that in Isaiah, Psalm
85, that glory may dwell in our land. Glory, glory, glory, glory.
We don't know anything about glory. We've seen a little bit
of man's glory, this and that and the other. Glory, glory,
glory. But the Scriptures talks about the glory that shall be
revealed. That we can't conceive of, I
hadn't seen, you hadn't heard, neither have the hearts of man.
The glory, glory. The glory talks about that excellence. It's so excellent, you know,
as beautiful as this world is, even with sin in it, God said,
I'm going to create a new one that you're not even going to
think about. It's not even going to come to
mind. It talks about an exceeding and
eternal way of glory. And it talks about when Christ,
our life, shall appear, then ye, that is those who arisen
with him, shall appear with him in glory. I just attended my nephew's wedding. Some of you did too. That was
a beautiful affair with him. Beautiful. I told him it was
the only wedding, one of the only ones that I've really enjoyed. I couldn't really enjoy my daughter's
because I was doing the ceremony. But, you know, down there I wouldn't
do it. I would just participate, just looking around, watching.
I enjoyed the sights and enjoyed the message. I enjoyed seeing
the bride come. I enjoyed seeing them united.
And I enjoyed seeing all the joy. And I enjoyed the music,
enjoyed the food, enjoyed it all. I enjoyed myself. That's
nothing compared to the marriage of the Lamb. Nothing. The glory that shall be revealed.
Then shall we appear. We'll be the bride dancing on
his arm. Who? The most handsome man ever
to live on the face of the planet. We shall appear with him in glory. And we can't even sit here and
get excited about it because we hadn't seen an ounce of him. That's the reason you just
didn't leave your pew just then. Because I hadn't seen it yet.
Here we are. Look how we grovel here below. Worms. I'm a worm. I'm a worm. And this is why Christ, who is
no worm, but made himself a worm, living on this planet, said,
there's nothing here. And though he had nothing, and
everybody, he said, listen, I'm telling you, I go to prepare a place for you.
Glory. Hallelujah. Glory. Well, my flesh and my heart faileth. How about yours? I fail at everything. Have and will. That's what flesh
does. It's a failure. But God is the
strength of my heart. How am I going to remain true,
Tammy? How's my heart, God? Did you see the margin, Nancy?
God is the rock of my heart. Sam, you like that, don't you?
All through the scripture, he talks about a rock, a rock, a
rock, a rock, a rock, a rock, a rock, a rock. They're in slippery
places. Everybody is not standing on
Christ's rocks in slippery places. Bless God, He put our feet on
a rock and established our God. Yes, He has. They that are far
from Him shall perish. No doubt about it. No ifs, ands,
or buts. He's just already destroyed all
those that have gone a-whoring from Him. Oh, it's good for me
to draw near to God. That's what we've done right
now by His grace. He's brought us back to our right
mind. He's brought us back to the sanctuary of God, to learn
from Him, to draw near unto God. And now, where have you put your
trust? He says, I put my trust in the
Lord God. I think I'll just trust God. I think I'll just believe His
Word. David said, I said in my haste, all men are liars. Look
around me and it's just lies, lies, lies, deception, deceivers,
deceitful men. Think I'll just put my trust
in God. By God's grace, think I'll just believe God's Word.
And rest right there. How about you? What's it all
about? To declare His works. Because
in the end, It is all about his glory. In the end, and you know
the last day it says when God appears there will be a shout. A shout, and it does not say
what is said. It could be, and this is, it
could be, lo he cometh. Or it could be, that lo he cometh
to all believers It would be a joyful sound. We've waited on it. We've been
waiting on it. Here he's here. Or it could be,
I told you so. And to the believer, you did,
didn't you? And it's all come true. And to
the unbeliever, I didn't listen. the praise of the glory of his
work clarity where I told you everything I said and wrote has
come through. Not one promises fail has it
no more than one. Glory be to God. No cap for the
gate. Him number 297 and let's stand.
Number 297. Be not dismayed what every time God will take care of you. Beneath His wings of love abide,
God will take care of you. God will take care of you through
every day. for all the way. He will take care of you. God will take care of you. Third verse. All you may need,
he will provide. God will take care of you. Nothing you ask will be denied
God will take care of you God will take care of you Through
every day or all the way He will take care of you God will take
care of you. No matter what may be the test,
God will take care of you. I don't know.