This whole song is a prayer,
a prayer of David, who is a man after God's own
heart. That's what God said about David,
wasn't it, when he was looking? Well, he wasn't looking when
he sent Samuel looking for his king. Remember, he told Samuel,
I've chosen me a king from among Jesse's sons, a man after my
own heart. I began thinking about that,
what it means to be a man after God's own heart, or a woman. Not just talking about a man,
but a human being after God's own heart. And that's one, that's
a man or a woman who really believes God. Can two walk together except
they be agreed? And one who walks with God, like
Enoch, Abraham, others, David, is one who agrees with God, who
believes God, who believes what God has said because God said
it, no questions asked. That's a man or a woman after
God's own heart who believes God is God. He is God in all His character.
A man or woman after God's own heart is one who desires God's
glory above everything else. God is jealous of His glory,
isn't it? So one who's after His own heart
is one who desires His glory more than anything else. Even
at the expense of his own or comfort or whatever, and it's
one who fears God, who fears God. And a man or a woman who
is after God's own heart is one who loves God's Son, who loves God's people. That's
a man or a woman after God's own heart. And this was David.
This was David. And if you find yourself, when
reading the Psalms, being able to identify with David, that's
a good sign. I mean, that's a good sign. David
was a man after God's own heart. And if you, man or woman, find
yourself being able to identify with David, as much or more than anyone else.
That's a mighty good sign. It's good evidence. And I don't
say this presumptuously at all, but really, I can identify with
David more than anyone else, with maybe the exception of Peter. But I can turn anywhere in this
psalm. This psalm I told one of the
brethren, we were going to look at it tonight, and he says, my
favorite. And I think he meant it this
time. We all joke and we say that, don't we? Oh, that's my
favorite. And I believe everyone in here would say that about
some particular song, couldn't you? You know, most of the Martyrs
who died, who were either burned at the stake or whatever, went
to their death quoting Psalm 51. Psalm 51. No, that's my favorite. I remember reading that Psalm
at the graveside of someone here. whose funeral I conducted. And I remembered the look on his
face when there were some visitors. There were some local preachers
there. One in particular, well-known
local preacher, was standing right beside me at that gravesite.
And I remember turning and looking at him while I was reading Psalm
51. He'll have mercy on me. Oh, God, according to thy loving
kindness, blot out my transgressions. I remember turning and looking,
and he had the strangest look on his face. He was like, why
are you reading this? Why aren't you reading Psalm
23? He didn't know. Most of the martyrs, really,
went to their graves and went to their certain deaths quoting
Psalm 51. That's interesting, isn't it?
But I thought that would be for your comfort, that little by
way of introduction. If you find yourself gravitating
to the Psalms, that's a good sign. David was a man after God's
own heart. Here's the cry of a man or a
woman after God's own heart. This is a prayer. He says in
verse 1, and we're going to look at the verses leading up to verse
14. He says, unto thee, O Lord, do
I lift up my soul. Unto thee. I'm looking to you.
Nowhere else. I'm not looking to my profession,
I'm not looking to the church, I'm not looking to any one, any
person, but unto thee. Do I lift up my soul, my innermost
being? O my God, you're my God. You're my God. I trust in thee. I'm looking to you. I'm raising
my cry unto you. I trust in you. Now you reckon
God's going to hear that cry? I trust in thee. Let me not be
ashamed. We have much to be ashamed of,
don't we? We're shameful creatures. We're
shameful. We're shameful creatures. We're
God's creatures. We're supposed to be sons of
God. We have much to be ashamed about, though. I'm ashamed to
call myself a son of God. And David, though, said the same
thing. He said this twice in this psalm, let me not be ashamed.
And he says it many other times in other psalms, let me not be
ashamed. Let me not be ashamed of you, I'm ashamed of myself,
but don't let me be ashamed of you. Verse 2, let not mine enemies
triumph over me. Enemies? What enemies, David? Well, the
whole world. The whole world, everything and
everyone is an enemy, truly. to the truth, to God's people,
my sins, though, are my greatest sin. Let not my sin triumph over
me, the world, Satan. Verse 3, Yea, let none that wait
on thee be ashamed. You reckon they will? No, because
God's word says so, that none that look to him shall be put
to shame. That's what he said. Let none that wait on thee, look
to thee, trust thee, be ashamed. Let them be ashamed who transgress
without cause. That means presumptuous sinners,
unbelievers, the world out there who doesn't give God a thought.
Unbelievers who transgress. Look at Psalm 36 quickly, I think
that's it. Yeah, Psalm 36. The Lord allowed me to preach
last night without notes. which I'm thankful, but I may
need them not. Psalm 36 verse 1 says, The transgression
of the wicked saith within my heart, there's no fear of God
before their eyes. In other words, what all the world is doing and
saying tells me that they don't give God a thought. There's no
fear of God. So that's what he's saying. Those
who transgress without a cause will be freely and openly and
brazenly and blatantly transgress without cause just for the fun
of it. That was us. That was us before
the Lord revealed Himself. Verse 4, David says, Show me. Psalm 25, verse 4, Show me thy
ways. Oh Lord, teach me thy paths,
show me thy ways. The Lord said, my ways are not
your ways. My thoughts are not your thoughts, didn't He? He
says, the heavens are higher above the earth, so are my thoughts
higher than your thoughts, and my ways than your way. You've
got to show me your ways now. There's a way that seems right
unto man. The end is destruction. I want
to know His way, His paths, paths of the Lord, paths of righteousness.
David said in another place, verse 5, leave me in thy truth
and teach me. I want to know the truth. Can
you say that? You know, only God's people are
concerned with the truth. It's obvious the world is not
concerned with the truth. But God's people are concerned
more with the truth than anything. John, in writing his epistles,
particularly 2 and 3 John, he kept saying it over and over
again. I don't know how many times he talked about the truth.
The truth. The truth. I rejoice to see that
you're walking in the truth and your children are walking in
the truth. Do you believe the truth? The truth. The truth. That's a good sign. God's people
are interested in the truth. Because the truth is concerning
who God is. That's what the truth is. The
truth is concerning who Christ is. Truth. We are saved by the
truth. Set free by the truth. Show me
thy truth, lead me in thy truth, teach me. Thou art the God of
my salvation, verse 5. Thou art the God of my salvation. It's not doctrine of salvation,
it's God is my salvation. Salvation is in a person. On thee do I wait all the day. Remember, O Lord. Now, David,
now in the next two verses, he says, remember, and then he says,
remember not, and then he says, and remember. Remember, but something
I don't want you to remember, but then something I do want
you to remember. Remember, O Lord, thy tender
mercies and thy loving kindnesses, for they have been ever of old.
In other words, he's saying, don't forget to show me mercy. Remember, O Lord, thy tender
mercies, bowels of mercy and thy loving kindness. That's another
word for grace. The word grace is not in the
Old Testament. The Old Testament word for grace
is loving kindness. That's the same word. Loving
kindnesses. That's the good word. Loving
kindness. That sounds like grace, doesn't
it? He says, remember, O Lord, your
loving kindness, your grace, and your mercy. You've been merciful
and gracious for a long time, of old. You've shown mercy and
grace, and David must have surely been thinking back to Jacob,
his forefather, right? Jacob. Oh Lord, I read the story
of how you were so merciful to Jacob. So kind, so great. All that you did for Jacob. Why
don't you remember? Can you remember? Is there still
some mercy left for me? Depth of mercy, can there be?
Mercy still reserved for me? Your mercies have been of old.
Is there any left? Remember, O Lord. Verse 7, Remember
not. Remember to be merciful every
day. But this is something I want
you to forget. Remember not the sins of my youth,
nor my transgressions, or now. Remember not the sins of my past. know of my sins now, and I'm
going to need your mercy in the future, too. Remember not. Forget my sins, please. Somebody
said there's only one thing God can forget. God who cannot forget,
there's only one thing he can forget, and that's our sins. That's what he said. He said
there's sins and iniquities, I'll remember no more. I love that passage. Brother
John, it's your favorite passage. He said, the iniquity of Israel
shall be sought and not be found. God's not goat hunting. I told you that what Jack Shanks
said about the scapegoat. Brother Jack was preaching on
the scapegoat, how the high priest would lay his hands on the head
of that scapegoat and confess all the sins of God's people,
the sins of Israel on the head of that scapegoat. And a fit
man would take that scapegoat out of the wilderness. A fit
man because it had to be a man who was able to go a long way,
so far that even the goat couldn't make it back. Because all the
people wanted those sins gone, way gone, out of sight, out of
mind, totally forgotten, put away. That's symbolic, you see. And so that pit man had to take
that scapegoat way out in the wilderness, so far, that he could
not find his way back, and nobody else could find him. And that,
you know who that scapegoat is, don't you? That's the Lord Jesus
Christ, and He did. He went. Where He went after
He died, we don't know, but He was being our scapegoat. God
laid on Him the iniquity of us all, and wherever He went, Scripture
says it was behind God's back. That's where it was. And He took
our sins with Him, where they could never be found
again, where God is. Can't find one if I can say that.
But old Brother Jack, in that slow Texas crawl, he said, and
Brother Todd and I were there, and we both jumped six inches
off the pew, and he said, talking about
this scapegoat, he said, and so all the sins of God's people
were on this scapegoat, taken out and unwielded. And he said, and he turned those
glasses down on his nose and he said, and God ain't goat hunting
either. He ain't hunting for that goat.
Remember not, the sins of my youth, as much we would like
to forget but can't. My whole first 18 years, I'd
like to erase, but can't. My past haunts me. How about
you? God says, I don't remember. I don't remember, and as much
now. It plagues me still, and in the future it will. I will
want to erase it, but God, I don't remember. Until the day we die,
all of our sins, God can't remember. Remember not. But we still pray
that, don't we? Forget. Please, don't remember
my sins. According to thy mercy, remember
thou me. Forget my sins, but remember
me. Doesn't that sound familiar? Will the Lord hear such a thing
as that? Remember thou me. Remember me when you come into
your kingdom. Will the Lord hear that prayer? He sure did, that's the thing.
For thy goodness sake, oh Lord. The goodness of the Lord, oh
my. Our Lord said that in Exodus
33 when he was speaking with Moses up on the mountain. He
said, I'm going to make my goodness thank you for it. You're going to see
how good I am. I'm going to be merciful. I'm
going to be gracious. I'm going to proclaim my name,
the name of the Lord God, merciful. The Lord, the Lord God, merciful,
gracious, abundant in mercy. Pardon me. Read on. He says, for your goodness
sake, you're good, O Lord. Good and upright is the Lord.
Therefore will he teach sinners in the way. Sinner. Who does the Lord teach? Who
does the Lord teach the truth to? Sinner. That's who needs it, right? The
unrighteous. That's who needs a righteousness.
So he teaches them. And beware Christ. Beware. He teaches sinners, sinners only. He said, I didn't come to call
the righteous, but sinners to repent. And he'll teach them.
He'll teach them. They shall all, all sinners,
shall be taught of God. They all come to Christ, and
great will be the peace of all those sinners. The meek, verse
9, the meek will be guided in judgment. And the meek really
teach whose way? His way. The way. His way. Salvation, God's way. Not man's way. God's way. He'll
teach the meek. What does it mean to be meek?
A meek person is one who doesn't think they know anything. A meek
person is one who thinks, doesn't think they can do anything. A
meek person is one who doesn't think they are anything, or have anything. That's what
a meek person is. So he said, the meek will he
guide in judgment. You know, this world, the word
judgment, over in Romans 1, it talks about God giving people
over to a reprobate mind. Remember Romans 1 talks about
they weren't thankful, and they didn't acknowledge God, and they
began to make up all sorts of wild imaginations about God.
They thought they were wise, but they became absolute fools.
And it says, God gave them over to a reprobate mind. Well, the
word reprobate means void of judgment. It means having a mind
without good sense. That's what that means. It means
they don't have a lick of sense. That's what that means. They
don't have a lick of sense. And the natural man doesn't. And more than that, religion
today doesn't even make sense. It's void of judgment. Void of
it. It doesn't make good sense. You've
got a God who's not God. He's running for the office.
You've got a salvation that doesn't save. You've got blood that's
all powerful, but it really is not all powerful. You've got
God reigning, but you let him reign. That doesn't make sense,
does it? That's absolute foolishness.
But it says he's going to teach his people good sense. He's going
to give them good sense. Horse sense. The ox has good
sense. The ass has good sense. Man doesn't. Well, he'll teach
his people good sense. Biblical sense. Good sense. God, the truth will make sense
according to who God is, what man is, what man really needs. Read on. So he'll teach them
judgment. He'll teach them his way. Not
a way that they think is right, but his way. All the paths of
the Lord. Look, this is good. All the paths
of the Lord are mercy and truth. And to such as keep his covenant
and his testimony. Those who lay hold on the gospel. That's what the covenant and
testimony, the word covenant and testimony. The covenant of
grace, that's the gospel. Testimony, that's the word. Those
who lay hold on, that is, keep, they lay hold on and say, this
is my gospel. Yes. This is my gospel. They lay hold on it. He says
all the paths of the Lord, that is all the ways that God sends
them, all the directions that they take, everything they go
through, every step they take in their life is mercy. It's mercy. It's going to work out for their
mercy. We can see that, can't we, in
the lives of the Old Testament saints? Can't you see that, huh?
But they'd go through horrible falls, terrible sin, and boy,
it'd turn out to be great mercy. And they would go, it seemed
like, the opposite direction. And it all turned out just wonderful. and truth, mercy and truth. This
is going to teach us the truth. No matter where we go, what direction
we take, or what we go through, Barbara, it's going to teach
us the truth. It's going to teach us the truth. I just wrote a letter
to a woman who's going through great affliction. She's expected to die anytime. She's been on oxygen, literally
bed and down, totally confined to an oxygen mask for a long
time. It's a miserable life, a miserable
existence. She's a believer. I've known
her for years. And I wrote to her and just quoted Psalm 119,
verse 71 to her. It's good for me that I've been
afflicted, that I might learn thy sanctions. going to teach us the truth.
Whatever it is, it's going to work out, be mercy, and it's
going to teach us the truth. Read on. And for thy name's sake,
verse 11, David, right in the middle of this, he makes a great
confession here. For thy name's sake, O Lord,
This is the middle verse, right in the heart, verse 11. Thy name,
O Lord, pardon my iniquity. It's great. Paul talked about in Hebrews,
so great a salvation. How shall we escape if we neglect
so great a salvation? Why is it called so great a salvation? Because great sinners. I mean, the altogether unlovely
need a perfect substitute. So great. Oh, pardon my iniquity. And he calls on the Lord because
he's the only one that can take care of it. And he pleads something
that the Lord will always answer. For thy name's sake. If you want to always be heard
by God, read this right here. For thy name's sake. Your name
is merciful. That's what you said in Exodus
34. You said, I'll proclaim the name of the Lord merciful. For
your name's sake, pardon my iniquity. And that's not presumption. That
gives honor to God. It'd be like me calling on dad.
You know, for a parent. And you parents can enter into
this. Just the word, Mom. I hope there's a great way to do it.
Dad, what is it? What do you want? Just, you know,
the tone, the inflection, that's a... Karen said, all she's got
to do is, Dad, I don't know how old she is now, 30, 35, somewhere,
but it doesn't matter. I'm just kidding, Karen. But she will be soon enough,
guaranteed. I guarantee it. Sherry in her
40s. But really, right, Roy? As soon
as she started saying, Dad, the sky's the limit, right? And
David, and I'm not, you know, being light or flipping or frivolous
here at all. David says, for your name's sake,
this is your name. Mercy. That's your name. Grace. That's your name, Savior. He calls His name Jesus. This
is your name. What will your name say? I asked one of the brethren, do
you recall anybody today ever using that phrase? I haven't
heard that in my lifetime, except among God's people. That's how they plead with this
Lord. And they don't mask their sin. They don't hide them. They
don't try to cover them, but they come naked. I'm a great
sinner. I need great salvation. But you're
a great forgiver. Pardon. Pardon. I need pardon,
past, present, and future pardon. Verse 12, What man is he that
feareth the Lord? Anybody in here fear the Lord?
Any woman? That's what they used to call
God's people. He's a God-fearing man. Well,
whoever does, here's what it says, him or her shall God teach
in thee way. What way? That he shall teach. It keeps saying that, doesn't
it? My way. God's way. The way he chooses. not the way of man, not the way
of the world, but God's way. Now, now, now, who, what is that? The way that God has chosen,
the only one, that's Christ. Christ, I am the way, and that
he hath chosen, Psalm 89, he said, I've exalted one chosen
out from among the people. Isaiah 42, he said, behold my
elect, my chosen one. This is mine, the one I've chosen. This is the only one I accept,
the only one that I approve of. This is the only man that God
is well pleased with. But now, if you'll come to Him,
If you'll look to Him, if you'll trust Him, I'll accept you too. I'll account you righteous too.
I'll be well pleased with you too. And I'll consider you mine. I'll adopt you into my family. You just don't plead anything
about you. Don't even open your mouth. Just
look to Him. Look to Him. He's my way. He's
the way. This is the way that God has
chosen, His Son. No man cometh unto the Father,
but by Christ. Now, is that all right with you? Is that the way? Is that the
way you want to come? Oh, yes, yes, yes. Dare not trust
the sweetest frame with holy lean on the Lord Jesus. Not by
works of righteousness retrieved. No, no, no, no, no, no. According
to your mercy, you've chosen it in Christ. I come fleeting
in Christ. Well, come on now. That's what
the Lord teaches. All those that fear Him, we'll
look at what it means to fear the Lord in just a minute. It
says all that do, all that fear Him, all that He teaches Christ
to, all that He points to Christ, all those who fear Him, verse
13, well, their soul will dwell at ease. Their soul will dwell
at ease. Isn't that what Christ said?
Come unto me, all you who labor. A heavy laden. And you heard my pastor, I think
he said this here, but he talked about laboring. He said this
at Leninistok, you know. He said, talking about this laboring,
what does that mean? It doesn't mean going to work.
It doesn't mean going to MW. It doesn't mean going to the
automotive fashioners or going to the whatever. of all their lives and can never
rid themselves of this horrible burden of sin. It's an oppressive
burden that they labor under. They labor under a sense of guilt,
brother Roy, laboring always, constantly under a sense of their
own sinfulness before God. Well, Christ said, I'll give
you rest. Come to me and I'll give you
rest. Your soul will be at ease. Man, your conscience may prick
you at times, it's supposed to, so you'll go to Christ. But your
soul didn't, knowing that God had laid these burdens, the burden
of your sin on Christ. That's the good news of God.
Soul leaves, soul peace. And his seed shall inherit the
earth. Who's seed? Christ's seed. He said, I go
to prepare a place for you where the inheritance of the same.
All right, verse 14, here it is. The secret of the Lord. The secret of the Lord is with
them that fear him. And he will show them his covenant. The secret of the Lord. Now,
what might that be? Turn with me to Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter
10. The secret of the Lord. And throughout the scriptures,
it talks about the mystery of our Lord. It says here in Luke
chapter 10, it talks about something being hidden. What is a secret?
If you have a secret, it's something that you're keeping from others. Right? What a secret is. Well, it's something that's hidden
from others, that only you know. And the only way they're going
to find out is through power. And look here at Luke 10, verse
21, 22. In that hour, Jesus rejoiced
in spirit. This is one of the only times,
one of the only times in Scripture that it ever says that he rejoiced
in spirit. What's rejoicing over? And I have to believe that he
smiled broadly. and maybe even laughed out loud. What do you do when you rejoice
in spirit? You smile, you laugh even, and I have to believe that
he did that. And say it, pray it out loud. I thank thee, O Father, Lord
of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things, kept these
things secret. from the wise and the prudent,
but they have revealed them unto babes, to me. Even so, Father,
for so it seemed good in thy sight." The next thing, all things
are delivered to me of the Father, of my Father. And no man knoweth
who the Son is but the Father, and who the Father is but the
Son and He. these babes, to whom the Son
will reveal." And he's smiling, he's laughing all the time he's
saying that, rejoicing. The secret of the Lord is right
there. He just said it. Look at it again. The secret
of the Lord. I thank thee, O Father, Lord
of heaven and earth. You know that's a secret to most,
even though many say, Lord, Lord, many say, Lord, but they really
don't even know. They still say things like, we
make them Lord. It's still a secret. The very
name itself is a secret. We've thought about this many
times here. This thing of sovereignty, this concept of sovereignty,
what it means for a king to be sovereign, for one to reign and
rule over his subjects, is absolutely a foreign thing to this generation. Men and women don't have any
concept of sovereignty, none, because there are no more sovereigns
anymore. There are no more, the closest one living now, I guess,
is at Saddam Hussein, perhaps. Still, he, you know, he'll be
overthrown before too long. They all have. If you go back
a thousand years, 2,000 years, or more than that, 3,000 years,
go back to David's time, who wrote that, and ask one of the
Israelites, What does it mean that the king reigns? It means he does what he pleases
in his kingdom. Can the king, does the king do
whatever he pleases? I mean, without, just without
thoughts of anybody or anything, just solely according to his
own will and purpose? He sure does. You mean he can
just kill somebody if he decides? He sure does. He'd kill. He makes
alive. He casts down. He lifts up. He maketh rich. He takes everything
away. That's what it means to be sovereign. And God has revealed this secret
unto sons, that He is indeed God, that He's Lord, Lord of
heaven and earth. See that? Lord of heaven and
earth. He hid these things from the wise and the prudent. And
look at the next line, verse 22, says, You've delivered to
me all things. This is a secret. Men and women
still letting Jesus do this and that. All things have already been
delivered to them. All things, is that it? All things are delivered
unto them. Is that what he said? All things,
not some things, not most things, if there's some things I don't
have that man won't let me have. All things are delivered unto
me. He said all authority is given
unto men in heaven and earth. All things, he said, are the
keys of heaven and earth. Isn't it? All power, all authority
is given to heaven and earth, right now. Not to some future, but right
now. This is a secret. The secret of the Lord. You see
what that's saying? The secret of the Lord. The sovereign God. And the gospel
is a secret. Go back to our text again. The
gospel is a secret. That's what Paul writes in his
epistles. The mystery which has been kept
hid from the foundation of the world. The gospel is a secret. Many most believe that
a man named Jesus lived this planet and died and some even
believe he rose again. But now who was that? Who was
that really? We saw the secret revealed in
Isaiah 9 in verse 6. We saw who that was.
Who is that? God. It's God. Not just a son
of God. Not just a son. Father. God manifested
in the flesh. God, wonderful, counselor, mighty.
God, the everlasting Father and so forth. Secret of the Lord.
Secret of the Lord. The truth is a revelation. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2,
he said, What man knoweth the things of a man? Say that man revealed them. And
I gave this illustration last night. I asked somebody to give
me a number between one and five trillion. It's just think of
a number in their head, between one and five trillion. And everybody
laughed. I said, now I'm going to tell
you what that number is. It's ridiculous. It'd be a wild
shot in the dark, wouldn't it, if I guessed that? But what about
God? What man knows the things of
God? Who's got the stars? What man
can a man by searching find out God? No. And that's a secret. That's a
secret. Men think if they just sit down
and read this Bible, they can figure God out. No, no, no. Things
of God are a secret. The natural man receives not
the things of God, their foolishness to it. Neither can He knows them. They are spiritually the same. It's in the Spirit that it's
revealed to be something like that. It's a revelation. That's
the secret. And not to wise and to prove
it. And before God reveals anything to us, we've got to know nothing. That's where men go wrong. That's
know nothing. secret thing, and it says, oh,
I could go on and on, but I've got to quit. He says, the secret
of the Lord is with him that fear him. Here's a key to the
secret, a key to understanding the secret. What does Solomon say is the
beginning of all wisdom? Fear of the Lord. That's Proverbs
1, 7, Proverbs 9, 10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom, the knowledge of the Holy is understanding. Fear of
the Lord. What does that mean? Can you
give me five more minutes? I'll take it anyway. All right. What is the fear of the Lord?
Fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord. It's just that, all my life I've
heard men try to explain this, and I've heard them say, it's
not to be afraid of God, but yes it is. Listen to this. Edgar Andrews, the first one
I heard him say, it's to be afraid of God. That's the only way we
know fear, isn't it brother John? Fear. If you have fear, you're
afraid. Now, you're not, you're only
going to be afraid of God if God is who he is. If God is consuming
fire, if God is holy, then you're unholy, right? Aren't you afraid? The wrath of God is, it's not,
that's, it's only right. It's only right, Charles, that
we should be afraid or fear the wrath of God, right? Justice of God? I fear God's
justice. I don't want justice. God is
just. He will by no means clear the
guilty. Well, I'm afraid of that. Aren't you? Well, it's to fear
His Word. Didn't our Lord say it's to read
His Word and tremble at it? Didn't He say in Isaiah that
to this man when I look that he that is poor and contrite
hearted and tremble at my Word? They used to call it, you know
where the term Quaker came from? That's where it came from. Supposedly, and it has its roots
in Pentecostalism where they have these meetings and supposedly
the fear of the Lord would come over and they would literally
tremble. Quake. They were called Quakers. Nevertheless, God's people do
tremble if they read the Word. If not outwardly, their heart
quivers. They fear God's Word because
they've broken it. They fear God's Word. They fear
not believing it. They fear not obeying it. They
fear His glory. They fear offending Him. They
fear offending His glory. As we've said, God's people are
more concerned with His glory and His truth than anything else.
The world's not. Carolingians, that word glory
of God is not even in their vocabulary, but it is God's people. They're
concerned with His glory. And they fear, that's what we
do, the reason we do everything we do, the reason we want to
keep all familiarity and all flesh and all this out of our
worship service, I fear not doing what we do for God's glory. From
the songs we sing, to the preludes we play, Everything, the announcements
we make. Because religion is a mockery. And we fear. We fear not bringing the glory to
God. We fear His name. We fear using it in vain. You fear that. There are times
when I've been preaching. I said times in preaching that
I would teach something that people say using God's name,
and I stopped and thought, I wish I hadn't even done that. But
God said, I will not hold them guiltless who take my name in
vain. That's all this generation's doing. God's name's on everybody's lips.
Even the smallest child. God's people fear His name. Fear
misuse. They fear His Son. Psalm 2 says,
kiss the son. Oh, how I love you. Oh, how I worship the Lord Jesus.
Oh, how I bow to the Lord Jesus. Fear, that's fear. Kiss the son,
lest he be angry. You fear someone who'd easily
be angry, and you'd perish when his wrath is kindled. Just look.
Know that they were wise. fear missing Christ, fear missing
Christ, not heaven, Christ. All right, now here's what he
said, those that fear him, and there's so much more, reverence,
respect, and all that was included, I believe. What man, what woman
is he that feareth the Lord? Him, her, shall God teach his
way, that he shall choose, and he will, that's verse 12, Verse
14. Seeker of the Lord is within
the fear and he'll teach them the gospel. He'll show them his
covenant. He'll show them his covenant. What's his covenant? And we really
needed to hold 45 minutes to deal with this. But I'll just
tell you this little story. It's this wonderful story that
you know well, and it's the greatest illustration of God's covenant
to me. My favorite story in all the
Bible, I can say without reservation. There's a man named David who
had a friend, a brother named John. You're already smiling. David
loved Jonathan, the scripture says, as he loved his own soul,
and Jonathan loved David, his own soul. Over in 1 Samuel 18, it says,
Jonathan came to David, and Jonathan loved David so much that he stripped
himself. Stripped all of his armor and
everything, all, everything, and humbled himself before David. He said, you're going to be king.
You're my king. He said, and I forsake all for
you. There's just one thing I want
in return. I'm going to die. And I want
you to remember my sin. I want you to make a covenant
with me, an agreement with me right now. We're going to strike
hands according to your love for me and my love for you. I
want you to make an agreement, a covenant. Let's make a covenant
right now. But after I die, that you will show mercy to my seed
after me. That you'll receive my seed unto
yourself. That you'll accept him as your
own, because I'm going to be gone. Will you do it? Will you
make covenant? I sure will. And they struck
hand, and I believe they hugged. They said David loved Jonathan
more than the love of women. They made covenant. David made
that covenant for Jonathan's sake. For Jonathan's sake, for the
love that he had for Jonathan. Jonathan is a picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ, who made
a covenant with the Father in the beginning. God the Father
and God the Son in a covenant. The Holy Spirit was there too.
But they made a covenant, made an agreement, whereby God loved
Christ, and Christ loved the Father, and Christ agreed to
come down and save the people that God had chosen. Strip Himself,
leave His throne of glory, and robe Himself in the likeness
of sinful flesh. To strip Himself in His royal
robe and come down here as doing homage and glory and honor to
His King, His Lord, whom He loved dearly. That is one thing that
they agreed on in covenant, that whoever Christ came to die for,
whoever God had chosen and Christ came to die for, that God would
in the end receive all of them through himself as his very own,
no matter who they were, no matter how low they were, no matter
how sinful they were. And God the Father and God the
Son made a covenant, a covenant of grace. code of mercy, an agreement,
a contract, a binding contract, which God Almighty ratified with
just the word, I'll do it, an oath and a covenant. And said, I surely will, for
Christ's sake, receive everyone that he does this for. Well, the story of David and
Jonathan, you know the story. Over in 2 Samuel 9, Jonathan's
dead. And David's on the throne. He's
on the throne. He's reigned. He's ruling. And
David says this, Is there any left of the house of Jonathan
that I might show him mercy for Jonathan's sake? Any left of
Saul's house that I might show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? And somebody said, well, there's
one old beggar, he's lame, and he's living down there in the
place of no bread and no pasture, and he's lame on both his legs,
and he's a worthless, no good enemy of the king. He's one of
these enemies of the Lord my king. And David said, fetch him. Go get him right now. You don't
want him. I said, fetch him. They went
down and got him and brought him in. How do you think, and
his name was in the picture. In case you didn't know already. But they brought him in. How
do you think this fella appeared before this greatest king on
the earth with a word could kill him or spare him? How do you think, what do you
think he was doing? He was shaking. He was a brave
man. What's the first thing David
said to him? The fifth shift. Called his name. Called him.
Fear not. I'm going to show you kindness.
Loving kindness. Mercy. Why? Covenant. Jonathan said. I made a covenant
with your father, whom I love as my own soul. And I'm going
to show you kindness. Are you going to spare me? I
have more than that. Dress him up. Bring the best
robe. Kill the fatted calf. Put a ring on his finger. Bring
him up here. Set him at my table. That's my
right hand. Let him eat with the king as
one of the king's sons from here on out. And let everybody that
has anything to do with Mephibosheth serve him. Wow! Covenant. Covenant. There's nothing in Mephibosheth.
It's all for Jonathan's sake. The Lord taught us that covenant,
that the seeker of the Lord is with them that fear him. He'll
show them his covenant, that covenant of grace that he made
with Christ for when the world began, for the likes of old Mephibosheth. That's a wonderful thing. That's
the gospel. All right, stand with me. Our Father, we thank you. We're
revealing covenant verses that are in Christ's immediate hand,
surety, that everlasting covenant. It's ordered in all things, I'm
sure, because Christ made an end to the transgression, because
Christ paid for our sin, because Christ gave us His perfect righteousness,
because Christ, and that's His name. We ask your forgiveness
for thy great namesake, for Christ's namesake, to mourn our wretchedness. We ask your forgiveness for that
covenant that you revealed unto us, and we believe, not presumption,
we believe that you have revealed this unto us, and we thank you, Lord, more
than anything. For the name's sake, for the
life itself, we thank you for the gospel of the Father and
the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen.