was reading Psalm 85, Psalm 85. It may be that some people wonder
why we spend so much time in the Old Testament. I pass by churches and I see
signs, New Testament Baptist Church, New Testament Church. Does that mean we don't believe
what the Old Testament teaches? We teach from the Old Testament
Scriptures for several reasons, many reasons. The first of which
is this. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians,
I declare unto you the gospel by which you are saved, wherein
you stand. if you keep in memory what I
preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain." Here's
the Gospel, how that Christ died for our sin according to the
Scripture, according to the Scripture, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy, and on through to Malachi. That's the Scripture,
the Old Testament Scripture. And that he was buried and rose
again according to the Scripture. The Scriptures present Christ
all the way through the Old Testament Scriptures. And then I do want
you to turn to Luke 24, and here's another reason why we spend a
lot of time in the Old Testament Scriptures, is our Lord taught
His disciples the Scriptures. And He said in Luke 24, Verse
twenty-five, Luke twenty-four, twenty-five. Then He said unto
them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets
have spoken in the Scripture, Old Testament. Ought not Christ
just suffered these things and to enter into His glory? And
beginning at Moses, beginning at Genesis, beginning at Genesis,
and all the prophets All the Old Testament prophets, the major
prophets, the minor prophets, all of them, 39 books of prophets. He expounded unto them in all
the Scriptures the things concerning himself. That's what the Scriptures
are all about. They're about Christ. He said,
Moses, they said, we have Moses. He said, if you believe Moses,
you believe me. Moses wrote of me. Moses wrote
of me." Then while you have that open there, look down at verse
44. And he's still speaking here to his disciples, and he said
to them, these are the words which I spake unto you while
I was yet with you, Luke 24, 44, that all things must be fulfilled
which are written in the law of Moses, in the prophets, Samuel,
Jeremiah, Isaiah, in the prophets, in the Psalms, in the Psalms
concerning me. Then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the Scriptures. You know, he said
to the Pharisees, you search the Scriptures. They studied
the Old Testament, that's all they had. For in them you think
you have life, but there they which testify of me. The message
of the Old Testament is this, someone's coming. Someone's coming. The seed of woman, the priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek, the root of Jesse, the line of
the tribe of Judah, the son of David. Someone's coming. That's what the Old Testament's
all about. The Messiah, the Christ, the one for whom they looked. And expect it. It's like the
woman at the well says, the Messiah's coming. And he'll tell us all
the things that we need to know. So the Old Testament scriptures
say someone's coming this. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
say he's here. Behold, the Lamb of God. There's
the Christ, there's the Messiah. And the epistles tell us he's
coming back. He will return. Call his people
under himself. Let's read on here in Luke 24,
46. And he said to them, Thus it
is written, thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to
suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, that repentance
and remission of sins should be preached in his name among
all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you're witnesses of these
things. So we spend time in the Old Testament because Christ
died for our sins according to the Scriptures. And when they
had, the Scripture says, when they had fulfilled everything
that was written of Him, they took Him down from the tree.
When they fulfilled everything that was written of Him, they
took Him down from the tree. And then our Lord, what I just
showed you, our Lord told His disciples that the Scriptures
testify of Him. And then If we don't study the
Psalms, now you think about this, if we don't study the Psalms,
we're going to miss the entire ministry of David. That's the
only place David wrote was in the Psalms. Isn't that correct?
That's the only place that David wrote was in the Psalms. I know
Moses wrote some of them, but David wrote most of them. And
this man of whom it is said the Messiah is the son of David,
The man after God's own heart. If we don't get into these Psalms,
we're going to miss the message God gave us through David. And
I just find myself often in the Psalms. I think it's good for
me to read the Psalms in so many, many ways. All right, let's look
at this Psalm 85 and see what David is saying here. You should just see what he's
saying. He says, Lord, thou hast been
favorable unto thy land. Thou hast brought back the captivity
of Jacob. Now, when he talks about thou
hast been favorable to thy land and brought back the captivity
of Jacob, of course he's referring to Israel. referring to Israel. But Israel is a type of the Church. Israel is a type of the Kingdom
of God. We're Israel. We are Israel. That Israel back there was just
a picture and type of the Israel of God. Let me show you that.
Turn with me to Romans chapter 2. Let's look at a few verses
of Romans chapter 2. Israel, the Jew, is not just
the physical descendants of Abraham, they're the spiritual descendants
of Abraham. In Romans chapter 2 verse 28,
he's not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither that circumcision which
is outward in the flesh. He's a Jew which is one inwardly.
He is Israel who is one inwardly. Circumcision is that in the heart,
in the spirit, not in the letters, praise is not of men but of God."
We're Israel, the believer, the believer all the way through
the Scriptures and the New Testament and today. Israel, that's believers,
sons of Jacob. Turn to Romans 9, Romans chapter
9, verse 6 and 7. Listen to this, Romans 9, 6 and
7. Now it talks about the Israelites
back here in verse 4, Romans 9, 4, who are Israelites, to
whom pertaineth the adoption, the glory. They had the tabernacle,
the covenants, the giving of the law, the services of God,
the promises, who were the fathers. The fathers were all Jews. As
of whom is concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all
God blessed forever. Amen. But most of them were unbelievers. All of them perished in the wilderness
and left Egypt over twenty years of age. So verse six says, Not
as though the word of God hath taken none effect, for they are
not all Israel which are of Israel. They are not all Israel who are
of Israel. Neither because they are the
seed of Abraham are they all children, but in Ishmael was
the son of Abraham and all his descendants. But in Isaac shalt
thou see, because Where, where is Israel? The Bible talks about
the sons of Jacob, the sons of Jacob, the sons of Jacob. It
says that over and over and over again, the sons of Jacob. That's
talking about believers, sons of Jacob. It's talking about
believers. And when he says here back to
Psalm 85, thou hast been favorable to thy land, to thy people. That's his church, his people,
spiritual Israel. And thou hast brought back the
captivity of Jacob. Well, not only was Israel in
captivity, we were in captivity. We were in captivity to sin.
Christ curses everyone that continues not in all things written in
the law to do them, but Christ has redeemed us from the curse
of the law. We were in captivity to sin, to Satan, The Scripture
says that he takes them captive according to his will, taken
captive by him according to his will, something like Satan, taken
captive. And then Romans 7 says that they who are servants of
the law are captives of the law. So we've been set free. He sets
the captive free. Lord, you've been favorable to
your land. to your people, and you have
brought back the captivity of Jacob." Turn with me to Galatians
3. This will tell you who Israel
is. In Galatians chapter 3, who are
the sons of Abraham, the sons of Jacob? Galatians chapter 3
verse... Galatians chapter 3, yeah, verse
7. Know ye therefore that they which
are of faith, they're the children of Abraham. Galatians 3, 7. They that are of faith, they're
the children of Abraham. Verse 24, 28. Verse 27. For as many of you
as have been baptized into Christ and put on Christ And there's
neither Jew nor Greek. There's neither bond nor free.
There's neither male nor female. They're all one in Christ. And
if you be Christ, then are you Abraham's seed. And your heir
is according to promise. That's the sons of Jacob. Now
why are we called sons of Jacob? Now I'll give you five reasons
that I believe we're called sons of Jacob. Number one, God loved
Jacob before he was born. He said to the mother, she had
two sons in her womb. He said, Jacob, have a love.
He saw his behavior. Jacob was elected by God before
he'd done any good or evil. Isn't that what it says? That
the purpose of God according to election might stand. He was
elected, chosen by God. Number three, he didn't earn
the birthright nor deserve the birthright. He was the second
son. He was the youngest son. The birthright usually went to
the oldest son, but God gave him the birthright by his own
will. The birthright wasn't just an
inheritance. The birthright wasn't just money
and possessions. The birthright was the priestly
leadership of the home. It was the relationship with
God. It represented the home to God. He gave Jacob the birthright. And then, when Jacob was fleeing
from his brother, God brought him to Bethel. And while he was
lying there on that pillar of rocks, sleeping, God showed him
the way to glory. The ladder reaching from here
to heaven. Throne of God and the earth. And the angel of God ascending
and descending. That's Christ. He that ascended
is he that descended. That's the way it goes. The way
of the gospel. Showed that to old Jacob. And
then in all, fifthly, in all of Jacob's wandering, God always
brought him back. to Bethel. Brought him back to Bethel. So,
we're sons of Jacob. He loved us with an everlasting
love. I've loved you with an everlasting
love. Therefore, with love and kindness have I drawn you. He
chose us. We didn't choose him. He chose
us. He made us sons. He made us kings and priests.
He made us heirs of God. One day he opened our eyes and
showed us the way to glory. He revealed himself to us in
that place called the house of God. And he said to old Jacob,
he said, I'm your God and I'll be with you wherever you go and
I'll bless you and I'll supply every need. And he told us that
I'm your God. And then every time we wander
around, get off base and out in left field, wrong spirit and
attitude, conflict, he'll bring us back. We'll be back. Because he's been favorable to
his land. He's brought back once and for
all the captivity of Jacob. They're his children. They're
not deserving. Jacob wasn't deserving of anything.
But God chose him. Made him his own. All right,
let's look at verse 2 and 3. He's been favorable, brought
back our captivity, sons of Jacob. Now four things stand out in
these two verses. Let me read these two verses,
just two and three. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity
of thy people. Thou hast covered all their sins. Thou hast taken away thy wrath.
Thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger.
Let me show you four things about these verses here. Number one,
the author of all spiritual blessings is the Lord. Did you notice six
times in these three verses that David used the word thou hast? I haven't done anything. You
haven't contributed to this. Look at verse one. Thou hast
been favorable. Thou hast brought back the captivity.
Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people. Thou hast covered
their sins. Thou hast taken away thy wrath.
Thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger."
My friends, salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is not something
we do for Him. Salvation is that which He has
done for us. All of it from A. Alfred to Obeah,
from beginning to end. Salvation is of the Lord. Who
maketh He to deliver? God put a difference there. Let
me show you a verse over here in Exodus 11. Exodus chapter 11, talking about
Israel, and that's us. You know, when he talked about
the coming through Egypt at midnight and destroying the firstborn. In verse 7 of Exodus 11, But
against any of the children of Israel, the children of God,
shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast, that you
may know how the Lord that put a difference between the Egyptians
and Israel. Who made the difference? He made the difference. Who maketh
it a difference? What do we have we didn't receive?
If we received it, why would we boast? Talk about what we've
done for God. A man can receive nothing except
to be given him from above. So in these verses here, verse
two and three, I see that the author of all spiritual blessings
is our God. Thou hast, read verse 2 again,
Thou hast forgiven the iniquities of our people. Thou hast covered
all their sins. Selah. I know you know this,
but I'll mention it in case someone here doesn't. The word Selah
occurs in the Psalms 71 times in the Scripture, 71 times, mostly
in the Psalms. The word Selah is a is a musical,
the Psalms are the hymn book of the church. And the word Selah
is instruction or a symbol, a musical symbol. Like when you're playing
a piano, you know it's up here, pianissimo or allegro or I don't
know anything about these, but I've seen them on the, when I
used to play trumpet, I see that up at meetings. Do certain things.
When you come to this, speed it up or slow it down or quieten
it. But you don't sing that when you're singing, John, you don't
sing, pianissimo here now, allegro there now. You just, you know
to do that. And scela is a word which means
this is important. Say it again. Emphasize it. Don't forget it. That's what
that means. That's the reason when we're
reading the scripture, like you didn't read scela. But it simply meant,
this is good news. Do it again. Thou has forgiven
the iniquity of thy people. Thou has covered all their sin. Whee! Put a little, raise that
up. Shout it out. Sing it. Read it
again. That's what that's saying. All
right. Let's say this now. The second
thing I see in these two verses, the author of all spiritual blessings
is our God. Secondly, The people blessed
are His people. They're His. He didn't say, You
have forgiven the iniquity of the whole world. He didn't say
that because it's not so. He didn't say, Thou has covered
the world's sins. He's covered their sins. Thou has been favorable to Thy
land. Thou hast brought back the captivity
of Jacob. He didn't bring back all the
captivities in the world. He brought back Jacob, Israel. You have forgiven the iniquity
of your people who have covered their sins. You have taken away
your wrath. So God is merciful to everybody. That's so. He's merciful to everybody. Anything this side of hell is
mercy. I mean the very fact people eat, drink, and sleep under a
roof, and that's all mercy. So God's merciful, but he's gracious
to his people in Christ. He gives us the mercy of his
grace and his forgiveness. Here's the third thing. The blessings
that he's given us, and I just, Doris and I were sitting down
this afternoon, turned the television on, and there was that guy in
California at TBN, raising money for some kind of thing. He got
talking about, he was talking to people, he said, you need
a job, you need some bills paid, you need healing of the body.
He kept on going down the line, he said, maybe you need a husband. God will supply all these things
if you send me some money. You plant a seed and God will... And I thought, that's not what
I need. That's not what I need. That's not what you need. The
blessings that He's given us are not fleshly blessings or
material blessings, although He has. I'm not discounting that.
I'd a whole lot rather eat than not eat, hadn't you? I'd a whole
lot rather speak in a warm house than no house. These things are
blessings, but the blessings that eat, the greatest blessings
of all, thou hast forgiven our iniquities. That's it. Thou hast forgiven their iniquities. Thou hast covered their sins. Oh, my soul. Thou hast covered
their... Thou hast turned away thy wrath.
You're not angry anymore. The cannons of heaven are not
turned toward us, Saint. It's peace. Therefore being justified
by faith, we have peace with God. I'd rather wear patches
on my breeches and have peace with God than to live in a king's
house. David said, I'd rather be a doorkeeper
in God's house than dwell in the tents of the wicked. That's
the blessings. Oh my goodness, that's the blessings. He did it. He did it for His
people, and He's blessed them with all spiritual blessings
in the heavenlies. Of God are you in Christ Jesus,
who is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
That's what I really need. That's what I need. The rest
of this stuff is going to fade away anyway. Turn to Psalm 32. Listen to this, Psalm 32. Psalm
32. I tell you who the blessed man
is, you right here, you're the blessed, we're the blessed people,
we're the blessed people. Here it is right here, Psalm
32 and Paul repeats it in the book of Romans. Blessed is he
whose transgressions are forgiven. Blessed is he whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man or woman under
whom the Lord will not impute sin and in whose spirit Psalm 65 gives you another one
here that who is blessed. It doesn't say anything about
blessed man has ten changes of rain, best food on earth, good
health and all these things. So he is blessed, no question
about that. But that's blessed. Those blessings
don't last. Look at Psalm 65, verse 4. Blessed
is the man whom thou choosest. causes to approach unto thee,
that he may dwell in thy courts, that we'll be satisfied with
the goodness of thy house, even thy holy temple." That, let's
give thanks. Oh, what a blessing. I said four
things in these verses. Number one, who's the author
of the blessings? Who's the recipient? God is.
Who's the recipient? His people. What are the blessings? Forgiveness of sins, sins covered,
iniquities put away, wrath gone. Fourthly, what's the extent of
it? Go back and say, thou has forgiven,
verse two, the iniquity of thy people, thou has covered most
of their sins. No, all their sins, that's the
extent, all their sins. all their sin, thou hast taken
away all thy wrath. Oh, I love those little words,
don't you? Those words are meaningful. All
thy wrath. God's the blesser, we're the
blessed, spiritual blessings are the blessings, and the extent
of them, Jesus Christ has made to me all I need. All I need. He alone is all my plea. He's
all I need. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
power, Jesus Christ is all I need. All my sins. Now let's look at
verse 4 and 5. This is interesting here. I want
you to dwell with me just a minute or two here. Turn us, O God,
of our salvation. Turn us. Cause thine anger toward
us to cease. Wilt thou be angry with us forever?
Wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations? In salvation,
in God's dealings with sinners, wrath comes from two directions. God's angry with the wicked.
God's angry. God hateth all workers of iniquity. That's what Scripture says. God's
angry with the wicked. God's angry with this world.
When he destroyed the world by water, that wasn't an act of
love. Now people can go around preaching God's love, but let
me tell you something, I rejoice in the love of God. The love
of God is unspeakable. It's unexpressable. It's how
great the love of God, but that love's in Christ. It's a holy
love. He loves us in Christ. There's nothing about us to attract
the love of God. God would be an unholy God if
he loved us out of Christ. We're enemies of God out of Christ. God's angry. He that believeth
not on the Son, the wrath of God abideth on him. Abideth on
him. When God destroyed Sodom and
Gomorrah, that wasn't because he loved them, that was because
he hated them. Put them away. Put them where they do no more
harm. Put them where they contaminate no more people. Destroy them.
One day he's going to destroy the old heaven and the old earth
and nothing will be left standing. He's going to melt it with a
fervent heat. That won't be an act of love. It'll be an act
of judgment. Judgment. All right. How was God's anger
turned away from us? We were sons of Adam, sons of
wrath, even as others. children following Satan, and
the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, and the lust of
their heart. But God, who is rich in mercy
for His great love wherewith, even when we were dead in sin,
quickened us with Christ. See, what we were talking about
the other night, Richard, God's not angry with us because we
stole the watermelon. He's angry with us because the
reason why we stole it, our nature, our evil nature. We hate God. We hate holiness. We hate God. We hate righteousness. Somebody
said, oh, wouldn't it be wonderful if somebody come from heaven
and tell us all we need to know. He did. And evil men nailed Him
to a cross. They spit in His face. Jesus
Christ was holiness personified. He's God in human flesh. He went
about doing good. He told nothing but truth. He
told men the fact, and they spit on Him. stripped him naked and
laid him to a cross and laughed at him while he died. That's
what men think of holiness in here. But he did that for us. He turned
away the wrath of God. God was in Christ, reconciling
us to himself. Isn't that right? But wait a
minute, there's anger from another direction. We're born hating the God of
the Bible. Now, we don't hate our God. We
don't hate our denominational gods. We don't hate the little
gods that we've, in our imagination, have created. The God like ourselves. But we hate the true God. Now,
if you don't believe it, you tell the people you work with
the character of the true God, and you'll see fire in their
eyes. Their veins will stand out like water hoses. They'll
start sweating. They'll get red in the face.
Your God's my devil, that's what they'll say. Your sovereign God,
electing God, holy God, righteous God, almighty God, that's not
my God. That's right. And there's anger. That's written here in verse
4. He talks about the Lord turning his wrath away. Verse 5, will
you be angry with us forever? Will you draw out your anger
at all generations, cause thy anger toward us to cease? He
did in Christ. Now, verse 4, the first statement,
turn to us. Turn to us, O God, for our salvation.
Do something in here. Take away my wrath. Strip me. Humble me. Bring me to see who
I am, and what I am, and what I deserve. And your anger is
justified, and your wrath justified. And bring me to love you as you
are. You know, God's not who we think
He is. God's who He says He is. And we've got to love Him, not
just for His benefits, and bless Him. We love Him for His holiness,
for His justice, for His righteousness, for His sovereignty. Love Him
as He is. That's why I want to know the
true God. Let me turn to 1 John 5. 1 John chapter 5. Oh, this, you know, while you're
finding over all flesh, that I should
give eternal life to as many as you've given me, and this
is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ in thy sin." Not enough to have a God, I've
got to know the only true God in His true character. And that's
not learned by looking at the stars and standing at the creek
bank throwing in the line and listening to the wind blow through
the pines. The true God's revealed two places, His Word and His
Son. That's right. All right, now
watch I John 5, 20. And we know the Son of God has
come and has given us an understanding that we may know Him that is
true. We're in Him that is true, even
in His Son, Jesus Christ. Now this is the true God, and
this is eternal life. And that's what David's praying
over here, Lord, turn me. Turn me. Turn me, O God, of my
salvation. God in Christ turned away his
wrath. Christ satisfied the holiness
of God, honored the law of God, turned aside the wrath of God.
And God's able to accept us and love us in Christ. But now wait
a minute. That was not a long time ago. He's got to turn to me. Now let
me show you that in 2 Corinthians. Turn to 2 Corinthians, chapter
5. This is Paul's message. Reconciliation. Reconciliation means, let's see,
2 Corinthians 5. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 19, verse
18. Putting away the wrath, becoming
reconciled to one who is an enemy. All right, verse 18, 2 Corinthians
5, And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to by
Jesus Christ, reconciled peace, forgiveness with friends. God loves us. His favor is upon
us. Has given to us the ministry
of reconciliation, namely, that is to say, that God was in Christ
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them, he imputed them to Christ, and had committed unto
us the word of reconciliation. Now then, We, as the ambassadors
for Christ, as the preachers of the gospel, as though God
did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be you
reconciled to God. That's got to take place. If
God reconciled us, and God's not anxious, we got to lay down
our shotguns. See, I watch this, you come preaching
the grace of God, the sovereignty of God, the collective grace
of God, the particular work of Christ, the salvations of the
Lord. And you preach it. I've preached it over the country.
I was telling Rick and Jenny and John and Heather last night,
another night, about this little Free Will Baptist Church. They
heard me on television up in Dingus, West Virginia. Well,
Garry Vance, the pastor, preached it. Well, the first time I met
them was 15 years ago. They were a dingus, free will,
Baptist church then. And their pastor heard me on
television. And he called two of the deacons
to come up to the hospital. He was dying of emphysema, the
pastor was. Called him up to the hospital
to, he wanted to talk to him. He said, now there's a preacher
on television that's preaching what I really believe. What I
really believe. I want y'all to listen to him.
So Sammy Vance and Henry Preston, the deacons, started listening.
And the pastor died and they called the deacon to be the pastor,
Sammy Banks, no Ken DeGear. So he became the pastor and asked
me to come down and preach for him. And I went down and preached
one Thursday. I had the prayer meeting on Thursday
night and Doris and I went down and Auditorium, not as big as
this one, but it had a big choir and it was full of folks. Auditorium
was full of folks. And I sat over there beside the
pastor and they started going at it, you know, singing over
the old hook to do songs, you know, and carrying on. And I just sat there and listened
and watched and asked God to give me a message, you know.
And then they, he had them all pray and they all prayed and
went together. Everybody prayed, just, just battling them in that
place. And then he had them all go and shake hands. That went
on, you know, finally they simmered down and sat down and I got up
to preach. They didn't hear me. There's so much going on, they
didn't hear what I was saying. And I came back again and preached
on Thursday night. They still didn't hear me. Pastor
asked me to come down and preach for four or five days, four or
five nights. They still didn't hear me. Some
of them began to listen. I watched expressions change,
watched them quieten down. And then a little while later,
He was able to preach it, and they heard it, and they got angry. I mean angry. That church, you
tell us, they say it split down the middle. It literally split
it down the middle. They had a vote the next week
to see who was going to stay and who was going to leave. They
voted, and it was a tie, and one man cast the vote. I don't
know who it was, but it was 40 to 41 or 39 to 38. The people who heard the message
of grace, one by one vote, and others left. Miracle. Just walked
out. But we went back some more and
the elders of our church started going down. One of them, they
called him his pastor, Brother Half Yates. And that church just
But some heard, and some didn't. It took a while. And that's what
I'm saying. Paul says, Be ye reconciled to
God. Lay down your shotgun. Some folks
won't do it. They keep their shotgun aimed
at everybody that believes this. But his elect heard. His elect heard the gospel. And some of the finest folks
I know are up there now. But that's just reconciling. God is reconciled. And the gospel
comes. Who God is. What we are. What
Christ did. Why he did it. God may be just
where he is now. And his sheep lay down their
shotguns. They surrender. I was preaching
one time down Cherokee. And a brother Earl Cochran's
son-in-law was there, Jack. Now, Scott preached and then
I preached. Tonight's closing hymn. And he said, that's enough,
I've heard enough. And down the alley came, you
know, he said, I surrender. You will. I've heard enough. That's enough. That's enough. Lay down your
shotgun. All right, let's look here before we close. A fourfold
petition, verse 6 and 7. Be ye reconciled to God. This
is mighty important. I tell you, when God conquers
a sinner, isn't this right? He'll conquer him. He'll take the starch out of
him. He'll take the rebellion out of him. He'll take the smart-atic
out of him. He'll take the resistance out
of him. God's people are humble people.
They're teachable, they're lovable, they're gracious, they're kind,
they're generous, because they know what they are. They know
what they were, they know what they are now, and they know what
they're going to be. They know who did it, and they're grateful.
They're different. They're different. I heard a
story one time about a fellow that was a real character. He had a lot of pagan friends,
and God saved him. Broke him, stripped him, brought
him down low, shut his mouth, opened his heart, opened his
ears. And he hadn't seen his old cohorts and his old companions
for a long time. And one day, a bunch of them
were running around again, and they saw him across the street. And he didn't say them. But they
saw him and they hollered, hey Fred! And he turned and he saw
who it was, that bunch he used to run around with, just like
him. He said, hey Fred, come on over.
He said, it's not me. It's not me. He was right, and
he turned and ran. It's not me. The Lord makes a difference that
it's really not me. Paul said that. He said, the
good that I would do, I know I do not, but he said, I find
the law, war against the law, my mind bringing me in captivity,
but it's not I, it's sin that dwells in it, it's not me. That's
what Paul was saying, it's not I, it's sin that dwells in it,
it's not me. This is a new man. All right,
let me show you this and I'll let you fill in the rest of it. Verse 6 and 7. I see a 4-fold
petition. Verse 1, I mean verse 6. First
statement, Wilt thou not revive us again? Boy, he revived us
from the dead, didn't he? Like Ezekiel's bones. And we need reviving again and
again and again. Wilt thou not revive me again?
A refreshing. I need a refreshing. That's why
we're here in the middle of the week. We need reviving. We need refreshing. We need a
cold drink of water. We need some spiritual food.
We need reviving. Let's not revive us again. You
know, we grow in grace, every grace. We have grace of love
and joy and peace and humility and kindness and faith, but all
of those graces need to grow. That's right. They all grow.
None of us have them to perfection ever in this life, but they grow. And that's why we're not, you're
not revivers, revivers. He says in that second request
is that your people may rejoice indeed. Never in ourselves, but
always in Him. Always in Him. Somebody said
one time you can always tell a preacher that's a son of God. Listen to him and ask this question
in his preaching, who gets the glory? Who gets the glory? But God's preachers always give
Him the glory. There's a Psalm over here, Psalm
139. Turn here to Psalm 139, verse
14. This is what we're talking about. He said, Will thou not revive
us again that thy people may rejoice in thee? Psalm 139, 14. I will praise
thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. marvelous are thy works,
marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right. Amazing grace, how sweet to say. Amazing. Here's the third petition. Show us thy mercy, O Lord. Show
us thy mercy. Paul said two or three times,
I obtain mercy. I love this passage over here. I think your pastor brought a
message from it one time. Turn to this. You'll get a blessing out of
this. You've already read it, but let's read it again. Lamentation
3, verse 22. It's the Lord's mercies that
we're not consumed, because His compassion, His love fails not. His love is new every morning. Great is His faithfulness. The
Lord is my inheritance, my portion. Therefore will I hope in Him.
The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, to them that seek
Him. That's what He's done. We rejoice
in Him. Isn't that so beautiful, that?
It's the Lord's mercies I'm not consuming. It's His love that
doesn't fail us. His love is new every morning.
His great, great is His faithfulness. Therefore will I hope in Him.
The fourth petition, revive us, refresh us, let us rejoice in
thee, show us mercy, not justice, mercy, grant us thy salvation. I was raised in a Southern Baptist
church from the time I was a baby boy until I left home at 17 years
of age. This was not my language here.
This was not the language I was taught. This was not the language
of my mind or heart or family or anything else. Here was my
language. We talked about people getting
saved. Go to church and get saved. We talked about people, if they
would, to come to the Lord. Will you come to the Lord? He's
waiting. He's done all he can do. Now it's up to you. Don't
keep him waiting. Would you keep the Lord waiting?
Won't you come? Won't you please come? give God your heart. We
used to always want somebody to give God their time and their
talents and their time and their hearts. That's the appeal of the uninformed
and the ignorant. The appeal of the informed is
this, Lord, you save me or I perish. I didn't got saved, He saved
me. He saved me on purpose. It wasn't
an accident. He did it on purpose. He willed
to do it, he purposed to do it, and he did it. He saved me. That's what that... If you will, come to the Lord. No? That leper, when Christ came
down from the mountain, that leper and Matthew ran the meeting
and fell down and worshiped him and he said, Lord, if you will,
you can make me whole. We're not saved by the will of
man or the will of the flesh, we're saved by the will of God.
If he will. It's not if you will, it's if
he will. And then, Lord, we tell them
to give God their hearts, but here's what we need. He says,
I'll give you a new heart. He doesn't have any use at all
for this old wicked heart. I don't have any use for it anymore.
I'll be glad to put it in the ground. I need a new heart. I'll give them a new heart. Write
my law in their minds. The language is totally different.
And this is the language here, Lord, Revival us, Lord. Let us rejoice in Thee, Lord.
Show us Your mercy, and Lord, grant us Thy salvation." It's
His salvation. My salvation? No, it's His salvation. Restore to me the joy of Thy
salvation. Salvation of the Lord. Charles
Spurgeon brought a message one time. from Jonah 2.9. You know, Jonah was swallowed
by the great fish. A lot of people believe Jonah
was dead. Like Christ said, if Jonah was
in the belly of the fish three days, so the Son of Man would
be three days from the heart of the earth. Jonah evidently died in that place
because before he did, though, he said, the sea weeds wrapped
around me, the iron bars around me, I'll turn toward thy temple. Why did he say that? That's where
the mercy seat was in the temple. That's where the atonement was
in the temple. That was his hope. He said, salvations
of the Lord. Well, your salvation is just
as dependent on the Lord as his was. Just as dependent. And Spurgeon used this outline.
He said, salvations of the Lord in its origination. He planned
it. He purposed it. It's of the Lord
in its execution. It pleased God to bruise Christ. He sent him to the cross. Just as Abraham took Isaac to
the mountain and bound him on the altar, God took his son to
the cross and bruised him. He executed him. The wrath of
God, just as good. Salvation is of the Lord in its
application. He came where you were. You didn't
go where He was. He came where you were and opened
our hearts. Paul said, it pleased God to
reveal His Son in me. Not to me, in me. It's of the
Lord's application. It's of the Lord in sustaining
power. Right now, I'm kept by the power
of God. I'm not kept by my faith. I'm kept by the power of God
through faith. Not apart from faith, but it's
the power of God that keeps us through faith. And I'll tell
you this, he said, fifthly, salvation is of the Lord in its ultimate
perfection. It'll take God to bring your
body out of the grave. It'll take God to join your spirit
and body together in a glorified flesh. It'll take the power of
God to make you like Christ. Salvation is of the Lord. I'm so glad it is. Aren't you
glad that he taught us that and didn't leave us? I'm glad I wasn't
in that mess. We used to send people out to
preach in the service, then we'd go out and start collaring people
and bring them down the aisle. All right, I'll close with this.
Just read this right here. Here's the attitude of a believer.
I will hear what the Lord will speak. I will hear what the Lord... I must hear His word. And he
will speak peace to his people in Christ and to his saints. To whom? His people. That's who
he'll speak peace to, his people. He'll bring peace to this whole
world, to his people in Christ. He'll speak peace to his people,
to his saints, but don't let them turn again to following
him. Surely his salvation is not unto them that fear him,
that glory may dwell in our land. And here's the greatest verse.
Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. And I know you've heard a message
from that, now that God could be just and justify his mercy
and peace. Righteousness kissed each other
at Calvary. Truth shall spring out of the
earth. Christ was a man born of a woman. Righteousness looked
down from heaven. He's deity, deity joined with
flesh, the God-man. Righteousness from heaven, truth
out of the earth. A man that told the truth, a
real man, only man that ever told the truth was Christ. Truth
sprang out of the earth and righteousness from heaven and they met in Him. Yea, the Lord will give that
which is good and our land shall yield her increase. Righteousness
shall go before Him and shall set us in the way of His steps. I thank you for the word. How
blessed we are, forgiven of our sins, pardoned all iniquities. Thy wrath and judgment and condemnation
put away in Christ, who bore our sins in his body on the tree.
Thou art not angry, but we have peace with thee. You look upon
us with favor in Christ and love us for Christ's sake. And Lord,
you've taken away the anger and wrath and rebellion out of our
hearts. Take the rest of it out. You've
given us a love for Christ. Help us to love Him more. You've
given us eyes to see Him. Oh, we might see more of His
glory. You've given us an understanding
that we might know Thee. We pray that we may know Thee
better, grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus
Christ. O Lord, revive us, show us mercy, teach us Thy ways,
Thy will, give us wisdom. Bless our homes, bless our families,
bless our marriages, bless our children. Let thy favor rest
upon us for Christ's sake. Bless our pastor as he travels.
Thank you for his faithfulness. Thank you for his message and
his gifts. Continue to bless him. Minister here. Bless your
people here. What a blessing you've been to
us. How you favor us. You favored thy people in the
land. We're grateful. Brought this
family together to love thee and love one another. Continue
your blessings upon our congregations and our family, our church family. Give us your spirit of grace
and unity. In Christ's name I pray, amen.
All right, Brother Joe. Thank you.