Hey, divine being, Thou blessed
Son, I need Thee, oh, I need Thee. Every hour I need Thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee. Let's open our Bibles back to
the book of Psalms. This is going to be pretty much a continuation of
yesterday's message. This is a sermon, a message with
two texts, Psalm 33 and 34. A few verses, Psalm 33 and 34. Look at Psalm 33, verse 8. Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the
world stand in awe of him. Look at verse 18. Behold, the eye of the Lord is
upon them that fear. him, upon them that hope in his
mercy." Now, chapter 34, verse 7, the angel of the Lord encampeth
round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. Verse 9,
O fear the Lord, ye his saints, There is no want or lack to them
that fear him. It's so very, very much written
throughout God's word of the fear of the Lord. It is the language of the prophets
and their messages, all of their messages to the people. You look
at any of them, all of them, you will see them saying often,
fear the Lord, fear the Lord. David, if you want to do a word
study sometime, just look at your concordance and look up
the word fear. How many times the scriptures
command his people to fear the Lord? It's the language of the
apostles, it's the language of scripture. Fear the Lord. And it's a characteristic, as
we said yesterday. This is the characteristic of
all of God's true people. Always has and always will be.
Solomon, the very first proverb that he wrote was, the fear of
the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, the beginning of all
understanding of who God is and what this is all about. Who I
am is the fear of the Lord. Now, what is this fear? What
is this fear of the Lord, and why should we fear the Lord?
What is this fear and why? Turn with me to Psalm 99. Psalm
99. The word fear means what you
think it means, to be afraid. That's what it means. Do not
make it something that it's not, it means to be afraid. It means
to have a reverence, a deep reverence and respect for
something or someone. And here the fear of the Lord
is to know something, this is the fear of the Lord, to know
something of his person, of his power. Be afraid, and it produces this
fear. Why should we fear God? Look
at Psalm 99, verse 1. It says, The Lord reigneth, let
the people tremble. God is sovereign. God reigneth. That's where we get the word
sovereign. God reigneth. This is throughout
the scripture. God reigneth. This is the message
that's missing today. Preachers, so-called, and I use
the term lightly, speak of a God who only can be God when men
let him be God, who is merely God over the elements and things.
But thy God reigneth. The God whom we know, the God
of the Bible. I mean, absolutely reigning. But God, Daniel says, in whose
hands thy breath is. The very next breath I breathe,
God gave it. God determined it. Scripture
says he sits on the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as grasshoppers. It says, he killed, the Lord
writes this, I kill, I make alive. The Lord writes this in Isaiah
45, 7, I make peace, I create evil. The scripture says, our Lord
says, he worketh all things after the counsel of his will, not
man's will. God reigneth. He's in control
of all things. Why fear him? Because the very
next breath we breathe is determined by him. Why fear God? Look at verses 3. Look at verse
3. Let them praise thy great and
terrible name. The language of Scripture is
so different and so unheard of by this generation. Terrible? Yes, terrible. Let them praise
thy great and terrible name, for it is holy." Verse 5, "...exalt
ye the Lord our God, and worship at his footstool, for he is holy."
Verse 9, "...exalt the Lord our God, and worship at his holy
hill, for the Lord our God is holy." Why fear God? Because God is
holy. What does that mean? Well, Paul
writes in Hebrews 10.29, he says, Our God is a consuming fire. Scripture says he dwells in a
light which no man can approach unto, no mortal. In the book of Job, it says the
stars are not pure in his sight, how much less man that is a worm. This is the God that men know
nothing about, the God of the scripture, the God who is holy,
first and foremost. And all of his attributes are
found under this, holy. His love is holy. His mercy is
holy. His actions are holy. Everything
about him is holy. pure. The righteous Lord loveth
righteousness, and hateth iniquity." That's the God of the Bible.
Why fear him? Because he's holy. What are we? Sinful. Through and through. Why fear God? Isaiah wrote the
first five chapters in Isaiah. He wrote to the people, Woe is
you. woe is you. Throughout the first
five chapters, woe is you, the prophet said, and what he said
was true. Everything he said was true.
But it says in chapter six, when we get to chapter six, Isaiah
said, I saw the Lord high and lifted up, and his train filled
the temple, and the cherubims cried one to another, Holy is the Lord God of hope. The old earth is filled with
his glory. And Isaiah said, Woe is me. Woe is me. He said, I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips, and
I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. God is holy. Why fear God? Look at Psalm 98. That's Psalm 98, verse 9. It says, Before the Lord he cometh
to judge. And it says, For all the hills
to be joyful before the Lord, for he cometh to judge the earth
with righteousness shall he judge the world and the people with
equity, or absolute righteousness and justice. Why fear the Lord? Because he's our judge. Christ
is the judge. We are talking about the Lord
Jesus Christ. When we speak of God, we are
talking about Christ. He and the Father are one. And our Lord Jesus Christ came
the first time to save. He said, I have not come to destroy
men's lives, but to save them. But he is coming again as judge. That's what he said. He said,
All judgment is committed unto me, of the Father. And he comes
to judge. He comes to judge. Why fear the Lord? Because he's
our Sovereign. He reigns over us. Why fear the
Lord? Because he's holding. Why fear the Lord? Because he's
our Judge. Now, the natural man doesn't fear him. Psalm 36 says,
the transgression of the wicked saith to me that there is no
fear of God before they are out. No fear of God before they are
out. And that's what Paul quoted in Romans 3.18. There is no fear
of God before they are out. No matter how great the judgments of God, and whatever
befalls men in the form of calamities or disasters and all of the things,
the evil that comes upon man. That's what he was talking about
in Isaiah 45, 7. I create evil, or those things
which men say, all these evil happenings. All of the calamities,
the disasters, diseases, deprivations, death. no matter how great, the judgments.
And they're the judgments of God. They always have been. Droughts. You look it up in the
scriptures, that whenever God was displeased with the people,
he just dried up the rain. And so-called preachers today
are afraid to say anything's a judgment of God, when it all And no matter how great the afflictions
that God sends upon this planet, men don't acknowledge it being
from God, because they don't believe there is God. The fool
has said, No God. And how foolish that is, that
the very breath he uses to curse God, the very breath he uses
to say that, God gave it to him. written about this. So God gave
them up, it said, foolish notions about God. And they made God
to be like a man, or whatever, some concoction of what they
think God is. The fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom. We read in our text back there
in Psalm 33, look at it again. Psalm 33. Why fear the Lord? He's our sovereign. He's holy.
He's our judge. In verse 18, it says that, Behold,
the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him. The eye of God's
mercy, the eye of God's grace, the eye of God's favor, the eye
of God's love, the eye of God's salvation is upon them that fear
him. upon them that hope in his what? Mercy. Now I said all, I said
our God is holy. Scripture says all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. Who's that? What's all these
homosexuals out there? What's all these murderers and rapists? It's all
of us. Scripture says there's none good,
no, not one. None that doeth good. There's
none righteous, no, not one. The Lord looked down from heaven
upon the sons of men. Psalm 14 says, see if there were
any that did understand. They're all gone aside, he said.
They're all together become filth. That's what God said about us.
And the believer knows it by this fear. And the eye of the
Lord is upon them that fear him, and those that hope in his mercy.
See, mercy is only for the guilty. Mercy is only for the guilty. Our Lord said, I didn't come
to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. And what do they
ask for? What do they repent of? Their
sin. What do they ask for? Mercy,
forgiveness of sin. Is it a one-time thing? Oh, they're
lying. Paul wrote to young Timothy,
he said, this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation,
that Jesus Christ came into the world a safe sinner. He said,
and I am, right now, the chief. Mercy. Who's going to fear the
Lord? The eye of the Lord is upon them
that fear him, upon them that hope in him. Who will fear the
Lord? Who will know that he's sovereign? Most people don't.
Who will know that he's holy? Most people don't. It means nothing
to them. Who will know that he's a judge?
Who will see the judgments of God? Who will? Those whom God chooses. He said
in Isaiah 43, you're my people that I've chosen that you might
know me, that put my fear in you. the fear of the Lord. But the fear of the Lord. Turn
with me to Psalm 103. Psalm 103. This is Sister Nancy
and I, my favorite psalm, or one of them, one of our favorite
a hundred and some odd psalms. Psalm 103. Those whom God chooses, those
whom God elects, those whom God has chosen before the foundation
of the world to know him, will fear him. Every one of them.
This is the characteristic of all of them. They fear the Lord.
And they hate themselves. Like Isaiah, they'll see him
as he is, high lifted up, sovereign. They'll see him as he is, holy,
holy, holy. They'll see themselves in light
of who he is, undone, a man of unclean lips. Woe is me, woe
is me, I'm full of sin. As David said in Psalm 38, my
loins are filled with a loathsome disease. They'll say with David,
how can God have anything to do with me? And they'll fear
him. They'll fear him and they'll
cry unto him for mercy. Do we ever stop fearing the Lord?
Do we ever stop fearing the Lord?
Listen to this proverb, Proverbs 28, 14. Happy is the man that
feareth thee always. Always. And in Revelation, it
talks about the people that stand before him and says, these are
they which feareth the Lord. Look at Psalm 103, verse 13. Like as a father pitieth his
children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear. Look at verse 17. The mercy of
the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that
fear him. His righteousness, his imputed
righteousness, is unto children's children that fear him, that
fear him, like as the father pityeth his children. Now, as
a child, those of you over forty like me. As a child, I'm sure
you feared your father, and your mother. Did you not? If they
were the average parent back in the, well whenever, fifties,
some of you forties, thirties, even twenties, parents did their job. And chasing
their children, they commanded respect and obedience and so
forth from them, right? I feared my father. I loved him. Oh, I loved him. I sure did.
But I feared him. I feared a look, just a look
from my dad. Did you, Stephen? Oh, my. Just to look, it would
strike fear in me. And if he called my name, both
my names, I knew that when he called both my names, Paul, Edward,
I'm caught. I'm undone. Woe is me. I did, I thought that. Why? Because his chastening and his
correction was certain, certain to come. It wasn't, there was
none of this time out. That does not work. Let me tell
you what that does. It gives them time out to come
up with more meanness. It gives them, they catch their
breath a moment. They get a second wind is all
they do. I bet your dad did, too. He started taking off his belt.
And I'd be pleading. I feared him. I feared him. You know, and let
me just say this briefly, but this no fear that Scripture says
in the last days, perilous times shall come, children will be
disobedient to parents. Why is that? Because there's
no fear of God. It all comes down. If there's
no God, I'm an absolute God. If he's just nothing but love,
as so-called preachers say that he is, and all that filters down
until parents and everybody just kind of love each other to death,
that won't get it. That won't accomplish it. Certainly not with rebels here. I feared my father's wrath, and
I feared his judgment. I feared his displeasure. It
was more than fear of the consequences. I loved him, so I feared his
displeasure. I didn't want him mad at me.
I didn't want to displease him. I didn't want to grieve him.
I didn't want to shame him, in my opinion. I didn't want to,
because I loved him. I knew he loved me. Now, let
me tell you this story. I told you before that in Mexico,
Brother Walter and Betty Groover were young missionaries down
there. They adopted a young Mexican girl, a beautiful young Mexican
child, and they themselves had five children. This was back
in the fifties and sixties, and they chastened their children
as they should, spared not the rod, as every good parent should. Anyway, they had this young daughter,
a Mexican girl, who was just a model child. She was a lovely
girl. She was so obedient and respectful,
and she just never did anything to warrant But Cody, you know, and Kevin
and the rest of them, you know, got into meanness and so Walter
and Betty tore them up. And anyway, Chela
was a young Mexican girl's name and one day she just did something
totally out of character. She just pitched a fit. just
went into a tantrum. And just did start acting mean
and precocious. And Walter said, no, Taylor,
if you don't straighten up, I'm going to have to whip you. And
she didn't stop. And he said, I told you, and
so I'm going to do it. What he said went. My dad said
it, whatever he promised he did. And he did. He took her and he
wore her out. And it hurt. But through her tears, she got
a big smile on her face. She was smiling. And he said, Honey, what are
you smiling at? And she said in Spanish, I know
that you love me. I'm one of your family. Whom the Lord loveth, he chastened.
I feared my father, and he chastened me, as he should. So to all who fear him, by his
mercy and his grace, we won't do it unless the Lord sovereignly
chooses us to fear him. reveals himself to us. But all
who do, they are saving, keeping, mercy, and grace. Let's read
it again, back in Psalm 33. Let's read it again, all right?
Verse 18. This is our text, really. Behold, the eye of the Lord is
upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy.
Verse 22. Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon
us according as we hope indeed. All those who call upon him for
what? What David just asked for. Mercy. Mercy. This is the language of Scripture. This is the language of all of
God's people. Mercy. Mercy. Have mercy upon
them. Have mercy upon them. It always
has been and always will be the language of those that fear the
Lord, that know the Lord, that they know there's one thing they
need from Him all the days of their life. From the first day
He reveals Himself to the day they die, they'll be asking for
mercy. Why? Because of our sin. Look at Psalm 34. I told you
this is a message with two texts. Psalm 34. Let's read the first
six verses. I will bless the Lord at all
times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall
make her boast in the Lord. The humble, the broken, he talked
about in verse 18. Brokenhearted, not overcome.
over their sin, that's what they're broken out of, more than over
their sin. Verse 2, the humble shall hear
and be glad. They'll hear what? Well, they'll
hear, they're going to hear how that the Lord had mercy on me,
David said. They're going to hear this. They're going to hear
how the Lord had mercy on me. They're going to hear this story,
my story. They're going to read my story and they're going to
be so glad. And I'll tell you in a minute when David wrote
this. He said, they're going to hear this, and they're going
to be so glad. Verse three, oh, he says, magnify the Lord with
me. Let's exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he heard
me. He delivered me. Verse five,
oh, the humble, they looked to him, and they were lightened.
They were flowed, hearts, faces were not ashamed. This poor man,
verse six, this poor, pitiful, David's saying, this poor, pitiful
excuse for a man. He's talking about himself, Pam.
This poor, pitiful, and he's pointing to himself. This poor
man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him. He said, folks are going
to hear about this and they're going to be so glad. When did
David write this? Let's go back and look at it. 1 Samuel. Go back to 1 Samuel,
chapter 21. If you read at the top of the
page, it will tell you there in Psalm 34, it says, when he
changed his behavior before Ben-Levitt. This story is found over in 1
Samuel chapter 21, and we're going to just look at a few of
the stories of God's people, those that found mercy. 1 Samuel
21. 1 Samuel 21. It says in verse 10, let's look
at it, "...David arose and fled that day for fear of Saul, and
went to Achish the king of Gad." David arose and fled for fear
of Saul. He was afraid, he was scared
to death of Saul. Now, wait a minute, this is David,
who was a young man stood before an eight-foot-tall giant and
all the armies, all the Philistines, when nobody else would, and pointed
his finger in the face of that giant, and said, Who do you think
you are? Who are you to defy the army
of the God, the living God? While everybody hovered in fear. This is David. And they all said,
come on back. David said, is there not a cause?
Well, I'll cut his head off. But here he is running scared. For fear of Saul. Read on, verse
11. Servants of eight. And he went
to a pagan king. He went running to the Philistines.
Where is it? Gath. That's where Goliath was
from. What are you doing there, David?
What are you doing over there? Oh, how things change, don't
they? Because we're changeable. Verse
11, He ran to Gath, and the servants of Achish, the king, said, Well,
this is David, the king of the land. Isn't this the one they
sang one to another of him in dances, saying, All the slain
is thousands, David is ten thousands? In other words, the captains
of this king said, Do you know who this is? It's here with us.
That's David that killed Goliath and slew all these, our people. David's here in the midst of
it. And David heard this and it carried him to death. Look
at verse 12. David loathed up these words
in his heart. He was afraid of Achish, the king. What's he going
to do? What's David going to do? Well, I'll show you what
he did. Verse 13, he changed his behavior. before them, and feigned himself
mad, act like a crazy man, and scrabbled on the doors of the
gate, scratching the door, and spittled." Now what would you think if you saw David
at this time? He can't be a child of God. In
no way. Can he? Tell me, let me ask you,
can he? What hope is there for a madman? What's David's hope at this point? Mercy. This is when David wrote this
song. Psalm 34. Right after this happened, when
he acted like a madman, he said, Oh, praise the Lord with me.
This poor, pitiful man who acted like a blooming idiot, who brought
reproach on his God, who brought shame upon his God, who acted
like a scared child, who went crazy, who lost his mind, this
poor man who lost his mind, found mercy. God didn't cut him off. He said, Did you hear that? Can you praise him with me? What hope is there for a madman?
The mercy of God. The mercy of God. Let's go back
a little further. Go back to Genesis, chapter 12. In Psalm 34, David writes this. In that psalm, he said, none
of them that trust in him will be found guilty. None of them
that trust in him. How do you know, David? He didn't find me guilty. I was
guilty of madness. None of them that trust in him
shall be found guilty. Back much further, let's look
at a few more. Genesis chapter 12. You know
the story of Abraham, don't you? Abraham, father of the faithful. Huh? Father of the faithful. It says in chapter 12, verse
4, after the Lord spoke and called Abraham, he departed. Didn't
know where he was going. But he departed. He believed
God. Scripture says he believed God, and it was catered unto
him for righteousness. He went, not knowing where he
was going, but he believed God. Traveiled or sojourned, living
in tents with his children, believing God, trusting God, faithful Abraham,
strong in faith. Stood up to the enemies of God
and so forth. Was he always faithful? Look at verses 10 and following. Well, there was a famine in the
land. Abram went down into Egypt and sojourned there. The famine
was grievous in the land. It came to pass when they were
approaching Egypt, he said unto Sarah his wife, Behold now, I
know that thou art a fair woman to look upon. And therefore it
shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see this, that
they shall say, That's his wife, and they'll kill me, and they'll save you. I pray
thee, Sarah, please do this for me. Say that thou art my sister,
that it may be well with me, and I'll live. Sarah, act like
my sister. or they're going to kill me. Can you, Henry, in all your days,
can you imagine doing something like that? Fearing for your own life so
much that you're willing to sacrifice your wife. This can't be a child
of God. Can it? How? How could a man act like
that? But for the grace and mercy of
God, you would do it. Why is this given? Why is this
written? Back in the beginning, in Genesis,
to show us that for the mercy and grace of God, but for the
restraining grace of God, but for the keeping grace of God,
you'll do anything. All of God's people did. Abraham said, Act like my sister.
Act like my sister. What hope is there for a scared
coward? The mercy of God. See that? The mercy of God. What about
his nephew? Remember the story of his nephew
Lot? Remember Lot? Look at the story of Lot, chapter
13. This is the story of Lot. Abraham, verse 8, said to Lot,
let's not strive about all this land. They came into the land,
and Abraham said to Lot, I pray thee, all our and all are fighting over the
land, you take what you will. Verse 9, it's not the whole land
before you, take what you will. In Lot, verse 10, this is the
nephew of Abraham, and Abraham is the one that carried, that
brought Lot out. He owed everything to his uncle
Lot, I mean his uncle Abraham. Lot did. Owed everything to him.
Beholden to him. Abraham took care of it. Provided. They had all this because of
Abraham. Verse 10, Lot lifted up his eyes and said, Well, I'll
take the well-watered plains. You really mean that, Uncle Abe? Yes, son, take whatever you will.
I'll take whatever's left. Well, I'll take the best. Well, look at there. It's Sodom.
That's a nice place. I'll take that, the well-watered
plains of Sodom and Gomorrah. That was before the Lord destroyed
it. It was as a garden, it said, like the land of Egypt. Selfish. Selfish Lot. Sinful? Chapter
19. Go over to chapter 19. Well,
you know the story. Lot got in Sodom and wished he'd
never been there. The Lord dealt with him, didn't
he? Because of what he did. He dealt with him. You want Sodom? You got it. You want to live
in Sodom? You want to leave your uncle
with whom the blessings of God are? You want to leave the people
with whom the blessings of God are? You want to leave the place
where God speaks? Go. Go. Great job. All the benefits,
all the material things of this world, all the well-watered plains
of Sodom. Go. It's only going to be by the
mercy of God that you don't die with Sodom. Look at chapter 19. He was so much involved in Sodom. Verse 13, it says, The Lord told
Abraham, we're going to destroy this place. Lot, we're going to destroy this
place, verse 13. The cry, the sinful cry of these
people is waxing great before the face of the Lord, and the
Lord has sent us to destroy it. And Lot went out to tell his
sons-in-law, which married his daughters. And he said, get up,
let's get, let's leave, the Lord is going to destroy this city.
But it says he seemed, he was trying to warn his sons-in-law,
but it says he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law. I can imagine what they were
saying. Well, Dad, why all of a sudden are you so concerned? Why all of a sudden are you acting
like that? You've never said much to us
before. We haven't seen this fear before. Why all of a sudden
now? The scene is one that mocked.
In other words, a hypocrite. What hope is there for a hypocrite?
Huh? You know the scripture, Brother
John, don't you? Over in the Hebrews, that God delivered that
just lot. Just? Well, he's a hypocrite. He's another scared one. He seemed
like one that mocked. All of a sudden, he's trying
to warn people. They don't believe him. What's his hope? Look at it. Look at verses 15
and 16 of Genesis 19. It says, And when the morning
arose, the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take your wife
and your two daughters which are here, lest thou be consumed
in the iniquity of the city. And when he lingered, he still
hung on, he still wanted to stay. He said, I don't want to leave
here. What hope is there for a lingerer?
Read on. The men laid hold upon his hand. They grabbed him upon the hand
of his wife and upon the hand of his two daughters, the Lord
being merciful unto him. He could have left him alone.
He could have let him go. He should have, shouldn't he?
The Lord should have. Stay there, then, Lot. Get what's
coming to you. Get what you deserve. You're
just as guilty as the Sodomites. You don't appear to be any different
right now. He should have said that. He should have done that,
but he didn't. The Lord is merciful. He delights to show mercy. He
takes pleasure in them that fear him. No matter what it may look
like, Lot still feared the Lord. What's the difference between
the Sodomites and Lot? Can you tell me? Looking at the outward, you couldn't
tell. At this point, could you? He seemed as one of them. What
was the difference? God Almighty, the scripture says,
seeth not as man seeth, he looketh on the heart. And what he put in that man's
heart was fear, a true love, a true knowledge of him. And
what God, the gifts and calling of God will ever be. He put that fear there, and it's
going to stay there. It's going to stay there. Nothing
and no one's going to. No matter what they do, no matter
how they act, no matter how they appear to others, God sees them. I told you that scripture says,
God delivered just lot. Well, there's not one story of
God doing anything just. But God said, He's just. How? He's found in Christ Jesus. That's how. He's found in him,
not having his own righteousness, but righteousness imputed to
him by Christ. He's been found in him. He's
found under God's mercy. God said, I will have mercy upon
whom I will have mercy. They're all guilty. And God says,
what is going to get mercy? And you ask Lot, what did you
do to deserve this salvation, Lot? What did you do to deserve
this mercy, Lot? What did you do? Lot will say,
nothing, except ask him for it. And he found mercy. What hope
is there for an absolute blooming hypocrite? What hope is there
for anybody? the Lord being merciful. Would you look at one more with
me? Look over the New Testament. Matthew 26. Matthew 26. Matthew 26. There's so many.
I could have chosen so many. I could have chosen every single
person in the Scripture. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. I could
have chosen one and shown you how they acted. Looked and acted
at times like you would never have thought. David wrote Psalm
51. You know when he wrote that.
And that's every sinner's favorite song, isn't it? We resort to
that time and time again. The one thing needful, the thing
we continually cry unto our Lord for is, O have mercy upon me,
O Lord, according to the multitude of thy tender mercies. Blot out my transgression. My
sin is ever before me. That's where we go. I find myself... Prayer is so
hard. Romans 8 says about God's people,
we know not what things we should pray for. But I find myself saying more
than anything else, and there are times when I don't know anything
else to say but, Lord have mercy. Is it so with you? Lord have
mercy." That's a good cry. That's a saving cry. The Lord
will hear that. The Lord will hear it every time. Old Brother Henry loves Psalm
104. It talks about the Israelites, you know, how they just sinned
against the Lord and got in the Lord. And then they cried in
the Lord, and it says every time. It says four times. He heard
them. and delivered them. And they learned their lesson
now. Oh, they're going to act right now. Oh, they get right
back where they were, and they said they cried to the Lord,
and he heard them, and he delivered them. And until the day we die,
we're going to be crying what? Have mercy on me, O God. Do you
know that if you read the stories in Fox's Book of Martyrs, of
the martyrs, those who went to the stake, burned at the stake,
Nearly every one of them went there, quoting Psalm 51. I mean, these people were dying
for their profession, in courage and faith and all that. But what
was their cry before God? Have mercy upon me. I'm a sinner. You'll hear that cry every time,
every time. Let's look at another one very
quickly. I've got to hurry. Matthew 26, the great apostle,
Simon Peter. You know his story. Preacher
of Pentecost. Rock-solid believer. That's what
the Lord said, I'll build my church on your profession of
faith, Peter. Well, look at this old Peter
here. Matthew 26, verse 69, they apprehended
the Lord, and Peter sat without in the palace in a damsel. A
young girl came up to him and said, well, you were with him.
You're with this Jesus of Galilee." He denied before them all, saying,
I know not what thou sayest. And he was brought out into the
porch. Another maid, I mean these are girls, approached him. Another
maid saw him and said unto him, yeah, this fellow was also with
Jesus of Nazareth. And again he denied with an oath. I do not know the man. After a while came unto him they
that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou art one of them.
Thy speech betrayed thee. Then began he to curse and to
swear, saying, I know nothing." What a coward. What hope is there for Peter?
The Lord had said, I love it says, in another place the Lord
looked on him. You and I were talking about
it last night. The Lord was there within sight
of Peter and it says the Lord looked on him. Yeah, Peter, you're
not going to deny me. Yeah, you'll die for me. Yeah. Without me, you can do nothing. Without me, you'll revert right
back to your old sinful self. Look at you." He says he wept
bitterly. And for three days, well, nearly
four, Peter was in absolute He left. I don't deserve to be,
I'm not, I must not be a disciple. I must not be a child of God.
I'm definitely not an apostle. I don't have any business ever
opening my mouth again. A preacher? I've denied the Lord. I'm not fit to live. And Peter
said, I'm going fishing. Quit. What hope is there for
a fellow like that? a denier of the Lord, hopeless. What hope is there? Well, when
the Lord arose, when the Lord arose from the grave, three or
four days later from death, when the Lord arose from the grave,
he said to some ladies, he sent some women to tell this, and he said, you go tell my disciples
that I go before them and to I go before me. He said, You
go tell my disciples and Peter. Make sure you tell Peter. You know, I thought about that.
I've never seen it before, Brother Stan. The Lord always called
him Simon. He always called him Simon. While
he was with him, he always reminded him, you're Simon. Simon, Simon. That's his earthly name. That's
just an old sinner. Simon, Simon. But now he says,
tell Peter. Simon was saying, I'm just old
Simon, sinful Simon. Sinful, helpless, hopeless. The
Lord says, you go tell my disciples. And Peter, the Lord said to Jacob, what's
your name? He said, Jacob. That's all I'll ever be, a cheat,
a sinner, no good, helpless, hopeless, guilty, vile sinner,
hoping for mercy. He said, no, it's not. Your name's
not Jacob, it's Israel. Go tell Israel. And he hopes in my mercy, and
he's going to get it. Scripture says the Lord delights
to show mercy. Scripture says, I remember as a young believer, about in Shannon's age, I was
25 or 26, and as we said yesterday, when you're a young believer,
right at first, the Lord delivers you from a lot. knowing how weak you are. It
just gives you such zeal and such comfort and such confidence. And you wonder, why can't everybody
else be like this? I remember just standing toe-to-toe
with people, arguing and wanting to fight them over the truth,
you know, and just zealous. I'd cry wherever message I heard. so zealous. Well, it's time,
you know, life goes on, and troubles start to beset you, and Satan
tries you and tempts you. The Lord, after he's established
to you and affirmed to you that you're his, and then he kind
of lets you be tried, not joked. I've had He restrains, you know,
he constrains, or restrains, and hedges you about, and only
allows what he will allow Satan to do, or you to fall into, and
then you do. Why? Why is he allowed this? To show that we're a sinner.
And only sinners need the gospel. Only sinners need mercy. Only
sinners need Christ. All their days, if we ever stop
realizing we're a sinner, we'll stop needing Christ. If we ever
reach the point where we think we're sinless, John said, there's
no truth in you. He said, there's no sin. He makes God a liar, and there's
no truth in him. The gospel is not there. You
don't need Christ if you're not a sinner. If you're not guilty,
you don't need mercy. You quit crying for mercy. And
you'll start saying like that, self-righteous Pharisee, God,
look at me. When you ought to be crying with
the public and have mercy upon them, that's all they could cry,
have mercy upon them. God allows this to go on until
you loathe yourself, until you put no confidence in yourself.
And you all have nothing but doubts about yourself. I remember
getting into that state, you know, and fearing that I was
lost. I remember fearing, I remember
it like yesterday. I remember it like today, because
there are times I feel that way now, when I act like Abram, when
I act like Lot, when I act like these people. And I remember reading, where
do you turn, you know, like this, where do you turn? You call upon
the Lord for mercy and the Lord speaks to you, the Lord speaks
peace to you, the Lord speaks comfort to you, the Lord reaffirms
to you his mercy and his grace through the word, through the
preaching of the word, through the reading of the word. And
I remember reading, I remember reading this in In Luke 12, and
it's always been one of my favorite verses ever since that day, I
remember reading it in Luke 12, verse 32. He turned to his disciples
one day, and you know what all they did.
And he said to them, Luke 12, 32, he said, Fear not, little flock. It's your father's good pleasure
to give you the kingdom." I remember reading that like
he said it out loud. Fear not, little feller, little
sinner, little weak one. It's your father's good pleasure. He's just delighted. There's
nothing pleases him more. And he's going to see to it.
that you get in the kingdom, no matter what you do. I love these words in the scriptures,
none that trust in him shall ever perish. I love that, none. I love the words, never. I'll
give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Don't you love the words, none
and never? I love the word, Don't you? All that the Father giveth to
me, I will come to me, and he that cometh to me, I will in
no wise cast out. None, never, no wise. You like that? David said, listen to me now,
all you honorable, listen to me now, and you're going to rejoice
with me. This poor man cried, and the
Lord heard him. The Lord heard him. Only sinners
know what I'm talking about. I mean Roman seven sinners. I
mean hypocritical sinners. I mean helpless sinners, weak
sinners, fearful sinners, helpless, hopeless sinners. That's what
this gospel, that's who this gospel is for. For the lots,
for the Abrahams, for the Davids. Peter and Simon, none that trust in him shall
be found guilty, none that shall find mercy." We're guilty of
everything. Always have been, always will
be. But none that trust in him. That's the good news of the gospel. Marvin, if you'll come lead us
in a closing hymn. What was that? What number was
that? 268. 268. Let's stand together.
268. We'll sing the first, the second, and we'll sing the fourth
verse as the last. 268. I'll burn my foundation in faith
of the Lord. He is great for your faith, in
his excellent work. What more can He say than to
you He hath said, to you who for refuge with Jesus hath prayed? God Bless.