It's so good to see you. You know, the speech of a believer is always consistent. with honor
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Truly, as it was said a moment
ago, as Moses penned, he penned that which the Spirit of God
moved upon his heart. Penned that which is most humbling is
when we consider this is God's Word. Honorable. Honorable. That's the word I
think of. It's honorable. It's a word that's
worthy of being heard. Thou hast been our dwelling place
in all generations. All of God's sheep have found
their dwelling place in Christ. You know, there is nothing that
is more comforting than in a time
of needing a dwelling place, to
have a dwelling place, a place of comfort, security. In the midst of seeing ourselves, God's people find their dwelling
place and be altogether Brother Henry a moment ago, it's
so easy to make a statement and say this, Lord's grace is sufficient. But you know when it's sufficient?
It's when it's sufficient for you. In that day, Lord, you've
been our dwelling place in all generations. is life but a vapor of a smoke. But I'm telling you the peace
and joy of Him who is our haven, our sufficiency, our hope, our
peace. It's so easy to have people tell
you, all kinds of things that they think is encouraging. But I'm telling you, there's
no encouragement outside of Him in whom we dwell. That habitation that perishes
not. I got my house not that old. Not really. About 15 years old. I see cracks in it. Always trying
to do a little something, patch it up, you know. Our dwelling place is sufficient. Lord, you've been our dwelling
place. And I'm telling you, a believer
is at home in Him. It's life. There's so much that
we can consider that causes us to long after not wanting to
put down roots here. That's a hard thing to learn,
too. It really is, by nature. We're born wanting to put down
roots here. But I'm telling you the comfort of having in Him a dwelling place. Nowhere else is a believer going
to feel at home. I can feel at home. In this world, I can feel at
home right here in the midst of God's people. But you know
the comfort, the bond that we've got is Him. What else do we have? The dwelling
of Christ, dwelling in him and by him, by God's grace for him. Lord, you have been our dwelling
place before the mountains were brought forth or ever thou hast formed the earth. and the world,
even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God." I heard someone make a statement
this past week, and they said this. They were
speaking of his law. They said, God sent his law,
and when that didn't work, he sent his Son. There was one thing that I knew
very quickly. You don't know the God of this
Bible because from everlasting, He's God. Never tried to do anything. That law, that schoolmaster of
God's sheep, that pedagogue that brought us to Him, He's God from
everlasting. before the mountains brought
forth, before you formed the earth, your God, thou turnest
man to destruction, and saith, Return, ye children of men." When he calls, his people come. Moses speaks of a believer, only
a believer. The Lord Jesus Christ told the
Pharisees, he said, you don't believe me because you're not
my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. They follow me. I know them. I call them by name and they
come. Thou turnest man. And you say, return, you children
of men. Men don't die because of fate. They turn because he turns them. He made us. He causes us to come. Without him, no power on earth.
appointed unto man wants to die. Now that's a real comfort. All men got this idea, and I've
heard lots of stories lately about things that can be done,
things that ought to be done, but there's one comfort that
I've got. Lord, you turn. Lord, you bring. Lord, you draw. He's the potter, we're the clay,
and he's got the right to do what he will with his own. And for that I'm glad. A thousand years in thy sight
are but as yesterday when it's past. It's as a watch in the
night. Time in no wise be compared to eternity. Human
affairs involved in darkness and error, sorrow, a thousand years and your sight
is just as a fourth part of the day, just a watch, just a vapor, Time is getting shorter and shorter. Comfort that a believer's got
is that dwelling place. You contemplate how quickly you
go back. I mean, we can just in a moment,
we can go back to a time in high school or college or just a moment,
just a vapor. I was talking to my dad the other
day. And I asked him, I said, when you think back how long
ago you were in college, we were talking about after he got out
of high school, he was getting ready to go into the service. And I said, about that time you
were getting out, how long ago does that seem? He said, just a moment. Thousand years in your sight
are like yesterday. When it's past, it's as a watch
in the night. Thou carry'st them away as with
a flood, and they are as sleep in the morning. They are like
grass which groweth up in the morning, it flourisheth, and
groweth up in the evening, it's cut down and withereth. Like a man that's caught in a
raging flood, floating down a river, like a bubble in the water, foam
on the side, just some frothy stuff on the beach. We began to think of ourselves
as being something. like we're somebody. I'm telling you, we're not. Man's here but for a moment.
There's some that were here just a little while ago and they're
just not here anymore. And we're just not going to be
here that long either. Just for a moment. We're consumed by thine anger
and by thy wrath are we troubled. Like grass that grows at afternoon,
at morning, it's green, at afternoon it's hay. Consumed by thine anger, by thy
wrath are we troubled. We die. in that anger, that word anger. For God's sheep, it's not an
anger unto eternal death. But this sin in which we find
ourselves, the presence of that sin, with that a man's going to die. In Christ we're secure,
no condemnation, no fear, no judgment. We're troubled by thy wrath, or we're troubled
inwardly. God's sheep are not pleased with
that which they are by nature. They moan. There's a moan. They know what they are. I was
listening to a man this morning. We was riding up and he was talking
about how yesterday, he said, I was out yesterday for about
an hour, hour and a half, praying, just walking and praying and
praising the Lord. And I thought to myself, you
know, I'm just hearing a little bit
too much about you. I'm telling you, you know what
I mean? Inwardly, knowing what I am by nature,
I just come to a point where I just rather hush. Just be quiet. see something of him, and I begin
to see something of myself, and begin to contemplate him as my
dwelling place. In the grace of God, how thankful. I'm just thankful. I just thank
you. our iniquities before thee, our
secret sins, in the light of thy countenance. There is no light as there is light in him. I began to look at that little
part of that chapter right there, that verse 8, Thou hast set our
iniquities before thee. our secret sins in the light
of thy countenance or in the brightness of your face." As I began to think on that verse,
I began to think on the imputation of my guilt to Christ. Thou hast set our iniquities
before thee. that which I am by nature. When I began to think on my hope,
this is all my hope right here. David said, You've made an everlasting
covenant with me, sure, in all things. This is all my hope right here. I'm going to say this as simply
as I know how. that when Christ died, He died
for me. He died with my guilt on Him. This is all my hope. This is
all of my comfort. This is all my plea that He set
my iniquity before His face, that He judged my guilt in my
substitute. That is absolutely all of my
hope. How much security do I have in
a baptism, shaking some man's hand, praying some recital prayer?
It's all my hope. He died for me and charged me
with a righteousness that he himself wrought. That is all my comfort. Thou hast set our iniquities
before thee. The light of thy countenance,
sin beheld by him, must be judged Someone told me the other day,
he said, you know, all you've got to do is confess. I said,
all you're doing is admitting what you are. If you just believe, repent. I said, well, I'll tell you this. I said, when you're talking about
God forgiving, pardoning sin outside of judging that sin. I said, God's not going to just
forgive sin arbitrarily just. I said, God Almighty is not going
to look at sin and just say it's okay. I said, I'll tell you what, the
soul that sins is going to die. The law of God had no provision
whatsoever and therefore repentance. The law of God lays straight
and reveals my crookedness. You set my iniquity, our iniquities
before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. For all our days are passed away
in thy wrath, and we spend our years as a tale that's told."
A man's life is marked by graves
that are left behind. It's a marker. It's amazing to me how quickly,
how little can be said in a little obituary. How quickly a man's
life can be summed up. His so-and-so was born and he
died. Had four kids, you know. Wife. We spend our life like a sigh, like a breath. like a vapor in the cold, just a thought. Meditation. Forty years Israel
was in the desert. Most of what we know about them
was recorded out of the first two years. Of the 38, very little
was written. We live a dying, whining, complaining
life that finds its end in a groan
of termination. It's just passed away. The days of our years are threescore
years and ten, and if by reason of strength they be fourscore,
yet is their strength labor and sorrow, for it soon cut off,
We fly away, those that do come to that three
score and ten. Few of them are cut off in childhood,
fewer in middle age, fewer come to that seventy some
odd years. Those that do come there spend
it in labor and sorrow. But if some by strength, by health, if there was ten more years, they spend it like a spider's
web, soon to be broken. The last few months I've noticed
My dad has always been so strong, so stable. I thought to myself, that's the
end of man's life. That's what we're all coming
to. Work hard and put up and get
more. The future and most people that
come to the end of that life is just spent, everything they
mostly work for, is spent just taking care of themselves. It's
just only in Him, only in that dwelling
place, that comfort, that peace, that security, that hope. Who knoweth the power of thine
anger? Even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath." The fear, the reverence of thy wrath, it means the outburst
of passion. You know there are a lot of things
that can be known in this life, but the power of his is one that I don't want to know. To consider the grace of Almighty
God that would have mercy on a sinner
in the place of pouring out that wrath on his son. And men that speak so lightly,
so dishonorably, so flippantly of the wonder of that thought,
who knoweth the power of that anger? Teach us to number our days that
we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Well, Henry, I think it was you
I heard, he said days. He didn't say weeks. He didn't
say months. He said some men have a few days
and some have fewer. Teach us to number our days. Not those three score and ten. But those days that we have that are just a
vapor teach us to consider, teach us to meditate, teach us
to contemplate. Be our schoolmaster. Behold the frailty of this life. Teach us that death is the lot
of every man. His time is set. His bounds are
appointed. That our days are few. It's as if that we've been put
in this world just to see it. You just saw it. Isn't that so? Just teach us to number our days. We're so prone to forget that
we're just blowing dust. In these moments, teach us to consider Him who
is worthy. will be turned, causing me to behold Him in His
honor, something of His glory, and apply
our hearts unto wisdom. It calls us to behold Him who
is altogether righteous. Return, O Lord, how long? And
let it repent thee concerning thy servants. Don't leave me to myself. Don't allow our lives to be short and bitter, but in the shortness of this
life, Teach me to consider him. O, satisfy us early with thy
mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all of our days. You
know, this world appears to be offering man gladness and rejoicing. There is no satisfaction. There's
nothing that has any lasting joy. Everything that this world
has offered is empty and vain. And you know, you hear that.
You hear it, but it's not until you see something of the frailty
of the moment how quickly it's over. how quickly it's fading. All of a sudden, that which you
thought was just going to go on, you know, go on and go on
and go on, and all of a sudden, you're brought to see this thing's
fading. Satisfy us, sir, with thy mercy.
that we may rejoice and be glad all of our days. Satisfy us. Make us glad according to the
days wherein thou hast afflicted us and the years wherein we have
seen evil. In the days that you have afflicted
us, make us glad David said it's good. that health is a great blessing,
only greater one is sickness. It has been good to have been
afflicted. There is no comfort outside of
him who is sufficient. In the days where you've abased
us, that word afflicted, that's what it means, abased. Or you
brought me down. It's been good for me. It's been
good. Wherein we have seen adversity,
evil. Let thy work appear unto thy
servants, and thy glory unto their children. Let thy work, the work of your
hand, the salvation of your people, the honor of Christ, that which is honoring to that
which is magnifying to him, that which is to his glory and to
my good, thy work. Let thy work appear. Let the beauty, the delight
of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish thou the work of
our hands upon us, yea, the work of our hands, establish thou
it. The beauty of Almighty God, the honor of Almighty God is beheld in Christ, to consider Him, to consider Him. That beauty upon the ugliest
of creatures turns that creature into an object
of indescribable loveliness that even Almighty God would delight
in, that is a wonder, that the beauty of Christ imputed, charged
to his elect, his sheep, his people,
those that he has everlastingly loved, that the beauty of the Lord be
upon us. Establish thou the work of our hands, that which you have called us
to. Ground us in. Make us to know. Cause us to
remember. Without Him, we can do nothing. This afternoon we were looking
at a little grapevine over at Paul and Mindy's house. We were
looking at these little grapes on this arbor. And there's some
little bitty shoots that's coming out, some little bitty branches
that are coming out. But do you know that there is
secure? There's that biggest one. It just came out years ago. out of that vine, out of that
stalk, just as secure, just as grounded. Draw us to
cry unto you, for we are but dust prone to wander. I know I am. We come and go. That's what our nature is. We just, that he abides forever. Calls me to see something of you, your sufficiency. I'm just so prone to forget,
so prone to... He who is the habitation of your
people. Great comfort. And in that day, It's not going to matter where I built or what I had. It's going to be one thing that
matters. It's the man I think of Christ. Thank the Lord for that psalm
and the one who preached it. 359. Sherry, come
up. This kept running through my
mind. 359. My faith looks up to thee. Sing the first and the last verse,
359.