So, talking about the foolishness
of preaching, I thought about this verse that
I've been reading. I know that men think that there's
a, you know, there's all kinds of ways, you know. He said, through
the foolishness of preaching. And the foolishness of God is wiser than men. The foolishness
of God in the gospel is not foolish preaching, but what men call
foolishness, what they consider foolishness. One may, to recognize his need. By God's grace, begins to see
something of himself, that he begins to see the sufficiency
of Christ. That's when Christ becomes lovely
to him, becomes altogether sufficient. When a man needs him, he needs
him. It's more than just coming to
church. A man begins to realize I'm going to meet God. I'm really,
really, I'm going to meet God." He begins to think about that.
He begins to think about himself. He begins to realize two things a believer knows.
They know I need Him. They know that. They know something about themselves.
They know just enough about themselves to know this. I need Him. And I don't want to stand before
Him in the best I can do. I do not want to stand before
Almighty God with the absolute best effort that I can put forth. I must stand before Him in Christ. I must. I must. That's the second thing they
know. They know first they need Him and they know He's all I
need. I want to preach tonight for
a few minutes on what a believer needs, what they need. What does a believer truly need? I know that it's in the valley
of trials with unceasing temptations. that the redeemed begin to truly
see. The greatest blessing God would ever send a man or
a woman, cause them to see their loyalty, what they are. That
this life is but a vapor, just Just be over it just like that. That's a blessing. God calls
a man to see something of this fleeting moment. That's when they began to see
that He is their haven, He's their rest. They began at that time, somehow,
considering the frailty of what they are, as is described in the Song of
Solomon, going about the streets of Broadway seeking Him whom
they are so loving. And thankfully, the Lord has
raised up watchmen. raised up creatures. And you
ask one of them about their qualifications and their gifts and their abilities,
they don't want to talk about it. Now, there are some others that
I know that are really faithful. Some that I know that are truly
gifted, you know, don't want to talk about me, though. And
these watchmen direct the bride toward him. They ask, Saw ye him whom my
soul loveth? Will you direct me toward him?
Will you rehearse one more time in my hearing ear? person of
the Lord Jesus. This is what you want. This is
what you need. You didn't come tonight to be
entertained. I hope not. I hope I didn't.
I want to just come and meet with God's people. That's what
I'd like, just a few minutes. It's like a breath of fresh air. It's like a drink of water. I used to like
to come to a water fountain, you know, when the water was
real cold and it didn't come out, you know, just real fast,
but there was a lot of it. I could drink. I used to love
my water fountains. That's the way it is. Just want
to come just to get a cold drink of water. Something refreshing. And when God's people hear the
faithful message of the gospel, And to behold the glory of the
Lord Jesus Christ, Him crucified, they by faith, saved within the
innermost part of their being, I found Him with my soul loving, held Him, wouldn't let Him go,
or won't let Him go. The comforting part is that He
won't let me go. David in this psalm, 139, describes
the heart. I think there's so much. Take
that psalm right there. I was reading over it as your
pastor was reading it. And I kept seeing some things. I thought, oh, I want to say
something about that. And now I want to say, well,
I'm We were talking this afternoon, you know, one of the hardest
things in the world to learn is that you don't have to say
everything you know in one message, you know. I told Paul, I agreed
with him, it wouldn't take me long to say everything I know. Three things that I see out of this passage that God's
people truly need. Number one, they need and desire
to know something of his knowledge of them. The second thing they need is
they need to hear something of their standing and their security
before him. And thirdly, they need to vent. They need to express their heart
toward Him. Don't you think about your husband
or wife. I mean, you know, you want to.
You want to tell them. You want to. You want to tell
them how you feel. You want to. You want to express
to them how you feel. God's people, they need that. But first their knowledge, or
his knowledge of them. They need to know that. O Lord, in that first verse,
thou hast searched me and known me. Looking at that
word, me, at the end of that first verse. Being italic means
that it was originally there. It's what he said, O Lord, thou
hast searched me, and you know. You know. You know. You know me, and you know all like me.
You know. brings a man, brings a woman
right down to the ground. Lord, you've searched me and
you know. I'm not hiding anything from you. I can do a pretty good
job, probably. And you could, too. Impressive,
you know. You can hide a lot of stuff.
Lord, you've searched me. And you know, you know my guilt. Psalm 44, verse 21, shall not
God search this out? For he knoweth the secrets of
the heart. God's people are so often clouded
with reproaches, calamities. They can't And they know they
can't. Find a way clear within themselves
to walk with integrity even before men, much less before God. And
they know that. They need to know something of
his knowledge of them. Find out. Find some comfort. Lord, you search me, and you
know, and you know. I'm not fooling you. David is a king. He was unsearched by subjects,
but not by a sovereign. Lord, you search me, and you
know. I need to be honest with him.
Now, here's some comfort. It's one thing to be, you know,
just repetitive, just go through a prayer, just, you know, but
I'm going to say my prayers, just, you know. But I need to be honest with
him. I need that. I want that. Thou knowest my
down-sitting and my up-rising. Thou understandest my thought
afar off. Thou compassest my path, and
my lying down art acquainted with all my ways. There is not
a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and
before, and laid thy hand upon me. God's sheep know. Before Him,
they're an open book. They—Lord, you know. And they find great comfort in this one thought, though my flesh falters, and that quite
often. for the sake of Christ, by his blood, or by your grace,
your everlasting love that you'd set on me. Lord, if you were to deal with
me and myself, Lord, you'd know. I don't talk about my decision
for him. If I confess, if I confess all
that I've done before, I've just confessed what I am, it doesn't
change a thing, Steve. It changes one thing. All a man's
got to do is confess. Well, he's still a sinner. For his sake. Psalm 103, 13, 14, And like as
a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that
fear him. For he knoweth thy frame, and
remembereth that we are dust. Here's a thought. Here's a good
thought. Here's a pleasant thought, that
he would know me in him. Lord, you've searched me, and
you know. You try to find some comfort
in any other thought, and you're going to end up hopelessly
lost. I find no peace, as I said a
moment ago, in Him knowing the best I can do. I heard someone
tell me one time, well, He knows our hearts. Yeah, I know. Here's where I'm comforted. In
God I am. Me in Christ. Here's some comfort. What He has done for me. What He's done in putting
away my guilt. I was thinking this afternoon,
No, while we were meeting, just then. I was thinking about Almighty God.
Almighty God. The One who has a right to show
mercy, has a right to show mercy. He's got a right to be just. I'm a just God. I'm a Savior. that he would absolutely, because
it pleased him to show mercy, that he would choose out a people out of every tribe and tongue
and nation, kindred, that he would choose out, because it
pleased him to do so, people in His Son, and Christ as their
surety. Every time I say that, I think
about somebody at the bank, you know, and that's what it is.
It's somebody right up there. Cosign, cosign. And as soon as
you prove that you can't pay, as soon as you prove that you
can't pay, They're coming after the surety. And from the foundation of the
world, Christ says the surety. God never dealt with the sheep
again. Dealt with the surety. They couldn't, they. Dealt with the surety. There's
an eternal covenant, a contract, and the surety of that contract
He's going to speak for those sheep. He's going to answer.
And whatever He does, whatever He does, that's how God's going
to deal with those sheep. He's going to answer for them. If He walks before Almighty God,
and I'm speaking, you know why. If He walks before God's law,
perfectly. They walked before the law perfectly.
He was their surety. If He's hanging on that cross
with their guilt on Him, the wages of sin being death, they're crucified, their guilt
dealt with. He's their surety. He buried them with Him. They died under the judgment
of God in Him, in their surety, in their substitute. When he
came out of that grave, God Almighty showed him openly. He was pleased,
accepted. They came out with him, their
surety. Whatever the surety did, they
did in the eyes of God. Now, here's some comfort to me. If that's what I knew, if that's
the only thing I knew right there, If there was one that was standing
for me in whatever He did, God was going to charge that
to all that were in Him. And whatever God's attitude was
toward Him, that would be His attitude toward me. I can tell
you one statement at His baptism. And I said, this is my beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased. I thank you. I need to know. I know that I was shaped in iniquity. I know that if I regard iniquity
in my heart, the Lord won't hear me. I know that the Lord should mark,
as a judge, iniquities who will stand. But Isaiah 6-7 says, Thine
iniquity taken away, and thy sin purged. Why? Because, Isaiah 53-6, the Lord
has laid on him the iniquity of us all, and he put it away. message that I've ever heard,
and I'm so simple-minded, and I'm not, I mean this, I mean
this, I am so simple-minded and I'm so forgetful that I need
to hear it again. It's like just, you know, would
you tell me one more time, just one more time, that this is what
you're saying. that God Almighty chose a people. In His Son, that's just the way
I think, you know, I'm an in, you know. Looks at them, He looks at Him,
He looks. And the demand on them was they
were going to have to obeyed God and couldn't. So he obeyed
for them, and God charged it to their account. His righteousness imputed, charged to them. And
God, who was able, God who was able to just, because He's God,
could take their guilt off of them and give it to him, put it on
him. He could take their guilt and
put it on him. That would take God to do that. And charge him justly. Just like he took that righteousness
and charged it to him. Took their guilt and put it on
him and took his righteousness and put it on them. and gave them, just gave them
faith to believe that, that he had justified them, apart from
any works that they had done. He wasn't waiting on them to,
you know, have faith to believe so that he could save them. He
saved them. And then, he saved them. Apart from anything
therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God. Is that what you're saying? That's
what I'm saying. That God chose them, Christ redeemed
them. God saved them apart from works,
apart from any works, apart from any works. That's
what I'm saying. He saved them. He just saved them. In spite
of them, He saved them. I'm going to have to hear that
again. I'll tell you right now. You contemplate that the Lord
has searched me and known me and dealt with me in a substitute, and that He satisfied God for
me. And I am as much as hard as I
want to walk before Him with honor and integrity. I am so
thankful that when I fail, and I do quite
often, no, I've never done anything but fail. It's not in little time segments,
you know. I've never done anything but
fail. You called me to know that, and
I'm going to echo what he said in verse 6. Such knowledge is
too wonderful for me. It's high. I cannot attain unto
it. Such knowledge that he has in
dealing justly And being a Savior, that's just too high for me.
I can understand, I do understand how false religion tells people,
now listen, if you'll straighten up and fly right, turn right
and go straight, you know, give the Lord, you know, get in, move
up, move out, move forward, you know, Make a stand for Christ,
you know. But I mean, I understand all
that. I can understand how men think
about that. But see, when I began to know His knowledge of me and
know what I am, the second thing I need to know is
I need to hear something. I need to know something about
my security. I know something about His knowledge
of me. My frailty, my shortcomings,
I know that. I need to hear something of my
security. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Whither shall I flee from thy
presence? If I ascend into heaven, my bed
in hell, rings of the morning, uttermost parts, verse 10, even
there shall my right hand lead me, right hand shall hold me. The darkness shall cover me.
The night shall be light about me." Lord, I need to know something. My proneness to wonder. Do you know it's by God's grace these trials come? I've thought
a lot about this, and I believe I'm right. It's good that I see something,
that he shows me something of myself. It's good that I see
something of the frailty. Now, it grieves me. It does. It grieves me. But it is by God's
grace to his people that he somehow removes that hand of restraining
grace just enough, and they see something, and they hate it. They realize, if he removed his
hand from me, there is no end, there is no limit to what I would
do. I'm convinced of that. It's by
the grace of God that he causes me to see where would I go? The thought of bringing reproach
on his holy name grieves me. And I know, I know
there's so much evil and resentment within me, that old nature. That
old man. Two natures in a believer. Old
man, new man. What is born of flesh is flesh.
It's never going to be anything but flesh. It's not reformed.
It's not changed. It's not going to change. It's
never going to bow. Never. Never. It will never bow. There is a nature within every
believer that hates God. What's flesh is flesh. Somehow
we think that it kind of mixes in there, you know, kind of sometimes
good boils up, bad boils up. It's kind of all mixed in there.
There's two distinct natures. And one of them hates God. And will do nothing but hate
Him. The carnal mind is enmity. Paul says, in me, that is in
my flesh, there dwells no good thing. It does not love God. It hates Him. Someone would say, oh now, you
know, that's a little strong. Well, it's probably strong, but
it's still the truth. There is a nature in me And it was against the Spirit,
and they're contrary, one to the other. Paul says, in my flesh,
I serve the law of sin. I love it. A man that says that
he doesn't, a woman says they're liars. You're a liar. You're
lying to yourself. He said, with my mind, I serve
the law of God. That which is born of God, sin
if not. There is a nature that is within
a believer that loves God, and longs after Him, and knows Him,
and loves Him, bows to Him, bows to Him. And there's one that
hates Him. Hates Him. And I think about the reproach
And I would bring upon him but for the sustaining grace of God
that would keep me. And it just grieves me. There's a Jeremiah that says,
I loathe myself, I hate. It's in his eyes that God's people have found
grace. Thoughts of every man was evil
continually. Noah's, too. But Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. God just chose to be merciful
to him. Why? Because it pleased him to do
so. Not that his eyes looked and
saw perfection or obedience, and therefore he chose to be
gracious, but he chose to be gracious in spite of what we
are. God's sheep dread the thought
of being left to themselves. This is enough. Many in this
world are looking for a higher walk or a higher plane or a higher
a deeper life, or I don't know what it is. It's what I want
to do. I just want to be able to come
and sit under gospel, and you tell me one more time that God's
put away my guilt, and that he, by his grace, caused
me to walk after him and keep me, and keep my mind, keep me
from myself, keep me till the end. They that endure to the
end shall be saved. I say this, Lord, if you don't
keep me, I'm not enduring. Lord, just teach me by your word,
cause me to walk after you. Lord, don't leave me to myself.
God's people need to know something about their security. There's no place where his everlasting
arm of power shall not keep his people. shall Christ, by his power, put
away their guilt, by his shed blood, and then leave them to
themselves." No. They're kept. Kept. And then lastly, God's people
need to express their heart. They need that. Verse 14, for I am fearfully and wonderfully
made, marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right
well. I will praise thee." This is
what God's people want to do. They want to. They want to praise
him. They want to thank him. That's
what they're doing. They're thankful people. I've
said before, I know a lot of people, when you say, let's just,
you know, you watch these guys on television, you say, let's
just praise the Lord. And somehow, I've watched them. And I think this is what people
think it is to praise the Lord. Number one, close your eyes,
put your head back about fifteen degrees, raise your hands up,
and move side to side. There's some folks in here right
now that just for contemplation, and you know, and knowing that he would give
them a heart to hear this record, the record of Christ, and how
God Almighty, in spite of them, without their efforts, without
their input, without their work, Saved them. He saved them. Put away their guilt. And in
Christ, they stand perfect before God. In their heart, in that
new heart, that new mind, that new man, that new creature, that
new creation, that new birth, they praise Him. They're thankful. Lord, those thoughts are too
high for me. This is what they want to do. Those that praise Him are those
that want to praise Him. They want to. They want to. And nobody has to tell them how
to. Not until a man sees something
of sovereign grace, he's thankful. Long as you believe that you,
you know, you did something. I don't know, wasn't much, you
know, but at least I believed, you know. He didn't, but at least
I did. As long as a man believes that,
he is not thankful. I tell you, he's thankful. Man,
God made a beggar. He just doesn't have any. Everything
that he has has got to be provided for him. The man is thankful. He has been gracious unto me.
The sad thing about it, I hear this, I hear it. I hear that God would choose
a people, Christ would live for them before God's law. Go to
the cross, put away their guilt. God's saved them apart from works,
not by works of righteousness that you've done, but according
to his mercy, he saved you. And I'm thankful. But I'm not thankful as I ought
to be, and I know it. I know it. I know it. I just, I have to share this
with you. Now, that was one of the statements
that Linda made. She was getting, and I apologize,
but I don't want to say this to detract or anything. But this
fits perfectly with what I'm saying, and I'm going to say it. I asked her about a month
before she died. I said, I know that the closer
you get to dying, I know there's going to be some things you know.
And I don't know, and I know God's grace. I know, I know He'll
teach you something. I know you're going to die with
grace, dying grace. I know that. I don't understand
it, but I know that it's so. I know that God grants peace
to his people. I want to know what you're thinking."
And she says this. It grieves me, first of all.
She said that, for my rebellion against him
as I ought to be. I know that I ought to be more
sorry." And she said, I'm not as thankful as I ought to be. And she said, that grieves me.
I'm not as thankful as I ought to be. But she said, I've never
in my life, never been more assured of the sufficiency of his imputed
righteousness. She said, I've never been more
convinced of that than I am right now. I'm not thankful as I ought
to be, but I've never been as convinced of that. And I said,
that's great comfort to me. It's great comfort. I'm fearfully and wonderfully
made. There's no doubt this body is a marvelous piece of work.
brought by the hand of Almighty God. And I'm talking about the
way he made his people. He said, I'm fearfully and wonderfully
made. I look those words up. I'm fearfully
and wonderfully made. And this word says, I'm fearfully,
I'm reverently made. It's an honor in what Almighty
God has done. And I'm wonderfully—do you know
what that means? I'm wonderfully made. It means
to distinguish or to make or set a difference, to distinguish. Lord, you were reverent, distinguishing
when you made me. That's how God makes His people.
He distinguishes. He sets them apart. He sanctifies. He puts them apart. And that my soul knows quite
well. I know this. I know that what
you've done, Lord, you fearfully and wonderfully made your people. And that I know by faith. I know, my soul knows quite well. These people are fashioned in
secret. War wasn't, they don't, I don't understand that. They
don't understand what's happening. Hard to, you know, big deal,
big hoop dog, big this, big that, big push, big bang, big, you
know, big this. And God calls some people and
they come together and they sit down just very quietly, very
reverently. A man stands up here to preach, whose feet are just beautiful. Beautiful. God distinguished,
made a distinguishing mark, set this man apart, taught him some
things, gifted him, gave him a heart, you know, for you and
you for him. He preaches to you secretly. By and I, verse sixteen, did
see my substance, yet being unperfect in My members were written, which
in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of
them. While this vessel of clay was
in the mind of God, the foundation of the world, the potter saw the end result. His eye could see my substance,
yet being imperfect." While I was conceived in sin,
while from the womb I came forth, speaking lies, He saw me in Christ. He saw me. Thy eyes could see my substance,
yet being imperfect. Revelation 17, 8. Here's his book. The beast that thou
sawest was and is not shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and
go into perdition. They that dwell in the earth
shall wonder. whose names were not written in the Book of Life,
the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that
was, is not, and yet is. All my members in thy book, thy
book, Christ, as the body is, privately found
in the room of a woman, the believer is secretly being made in the
image of Christ. And the father did with certainty
write all of his members into his son's book of life, in Christ,
with purpose. And the believer is comforted
that God would think upon him with favor. Verse 17, How precious
are thy thoughts unto me, O God, how great is the sum of them!
If I could count them, they are more in number than sin. When
I awake, I am still with thee. You know, I don't believe that David was
just writing poetry there. He meant that. If I could count thy thoughts
unto me, they're more in number than the sand. When I awake, when I awake, I'm
still with thee. My thoughts with him are sporadic. When I awake in him, he never
sleeps. His thoughts never end about
me. There's a reason for me to be
thankful. I just don't know how to be thankful,
but I want to be. A believer is convinced that every man found outside
of Christ is going to be judged. Surely they would slay the wicked,
or thou would slay the wicked, O God. Depart from me, therefore,
you bloody men. I know we've got to be in the
world, but we have no fellowship with false religion, false doctrine,
false gospel. We just can't. That's what we
talked about just before this service started. Man or woman
knows something of the gospel. They make a decision, and they
make a decision. That's me and my house gonna
serve the Lord. That's what I'm gonna do. They'll
make a decision. They'll make a decision between,
you know, husband, wife, children, neighbors. They know something
of Him. They're gonna, I'm gonna have
to, I got, I got to be, I got to be. It's not gonna be enough. They'd just go somewhere just
to have peace at home. I just can't. I can't. And if faith instructs people
that it's not presumptuous, my hope is that Almighty God will
deal with me, as I said before, only in Christ. Search me, verse twenty-three,
O God, and know my heart. You know my heart, but I can't.
I don't. or my thoughts. See if there be any wicked way
in me, and lead me in the everlasting way." Now, you know a man or
a woman that knows something of the gospel. If they were going
to just say, But look in me and see if there's any wicked way.
Well, you know. You know. But here's my hope. Here's my
comfort. If he looks upon me only in Christ, then I can breathe. I can relax. I can find some comfort. Lord, see if there'll be any
wicked way in me." I'll tell you another comforting
thing I can read in that. I will answer that in the affirmative.
I know what I am. But I know this. Christ Jesus came to this world
to save sanity, save from wicked folks. If I find myself in that lot
and admit it, give me a heart to admit it, I've got some hope. And I would say this, I'm one
he can't drive on. I'm one he can't put away some fuel. Lord, you search me, and
you know, you know. I need to know that He knows. I'm not hiding anything from
Him. I need to know something about
some security then. Tell me again how I should put
away my guilt. And then I need to repent. I
want praise. I want to be thankful. So, it's been a long time since
I've been in the state, so it's been a long, long time since
I've been in the state, so I'm a little bit nervous, and I'm
a little bit worried. But, I'm glad it's all over now,
and I'm really happy to be here.