Psalm 91, and that certainly applies, but
I believe the writer of that hymn, Charles Westley, was surely
thinking about Psalm 36 when he wrote that, among others.
Psalm 36 is where we will be studying right now. Psalm 91 says, He that dwelleth
in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow
of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is
my refuge, my fortress, my God, and Him will I trust. He will
deliver thee from the snare of the fowler. He will cover thee
with his feathers and under his wings shalt thou try." Kind of
reminds me of a little bird under his mama's wings. His truth shall
be a shield and buckler." It says the same thing in this psalm,
Psalm 36, and others. The psalm, I highly recommend
the psalms to everyone. If you're going through, well,
whatever, You can always find something
from the Psalms, something you need, something that speaks to
your heart. David is the writer of most of the Psalms, and he's
called a man after God's own heart, a man of like passions,
like as we are. And he seems to express the very
thoughts and intents of my heart when I read these Psalms. That's
God's Word in it, the revealer. of the thoughts and intents of
the heart and the comforter of the heart. Here in Psalm 36,
David is writing, and he says in verse 1, a transgression of
the wicked saith within my heart, or says to me, that there is
no fear of God before his eyes. Now, I'm going to try to put
all this in modern language so you can understand, so it just
won't be reading the liturgy to you. The transgression of the wicked,
he says, says to me that they don't fear God. What men do, for the most
part, says what they think. Could any man, he says the transgression
of the wicked, says they don't fear God, could anybody mock
God and fear him? Could anybody mock God? And you
know, religion is a mockery of God. Religion is a mockery. Playing, coming in here, or anywhere,
and professing the worship of God and wanting to hear from
him and pray and sing. That's a mockery of God. It's a mockery. Could anybody
openly . . . There are different forms of transgression, aren't
there? The reason I mention religion
is because I believe it's the highest form of sin. Could anybody provoke God with
open wickedness and rebellion and and fear God or believe in
God as God. Could they? All the open wickedness that
goes on in our generation. It's clear to me that those who do what they do, there's no fear
of God. I don't believe in a God who
will judge people. I believe the problem lies in
the pulpit. Preachers have been telling them so long that God
is all love and nobody fears him. And what men are doing today,
in our day, in religion and openly in immorality and wickedness,
tells me that nobody believes in God. But there is a God who
is actually going to wipe this thing out. Unbelief is the greatest of all
transgression, you know that? Unbelief is the worst form of
wickedness there is. It's the worst. You know, all
men are without excuse. All men and women are without
excuse. The heavens declare his glory, the firmament showeth
his handiwork. All the things that have been made, invisible
things from the creation of the and so on, clearly revealed his
eternal power in Godhead so that all men without excuse. Everything
we have is a miracle. Everything we have is a miracle
of God's grace, God's providing grace. Life depends upon water, doesn't
it? Where does water come from? It just comes from the sky. Everything depends on water.
And where does water come from? The sky. It just falls. And if we don't get it, we'll
die. We'll just die. That's all it is. And water comes
from the sky. God provides men and women, all
men and women, to a degree. All men and women are provided
with the necessities of life. God provides this and that and
the other, sustains them, food and clothing and shelter and
jobs and goodness and this and that and the other. The goodness
of God ought to lead men to repentance. It ought to lead people to to
acknowledge that God is and to worship him as such, shouldn't
it? And as I said, there's no better reason for us to meet
together this morning than to come here just to thank you,
God, for everything, anything. Thank you. That's the reason unbelief and
those who Don't give God a fault is the worst form of wickedness.
God gives and gives and gives and gives and takes care of,
and for them not to acknowledge him, it's the highest form of
wickedness. And that tells me, like David
said, it tells me that they don't fear God. They don't believe
there is a God. They just don't believe it. All men will know someday. God is. God is. All men will fear him some day,
but for many, or most, it will be too late. Fear. Fear of God. The scriptures have much to say
about the fear of God. I have some scriptures written
down, and I'm not going to turn to them. Fear of God is the beginning
of all understanding. Verse 2, he says, This person
is wicked, whether in religion or open immorality, the hypocritical
in religion or the openly immoral. He flatters himself in his own
act. He flatters himself. What flatter means, when you
flatter somebody, you cover them with compliments. And literally that's
what you do, and you're covering their faults with compliment. They're full of faults and problems,
but you cover them with, you flatter them, you smooth over
their faults. And this is what he says here
at the wicked dew. He flatters himself in his own
eyes. He smooths over his own sins
in his own eyes. He says, I'm not that bad. And how does he do that, Joe?
he says, God's not that holy, so I'm not that bad. God's not that just, so I'm not
that bad a shape. I don't have to worry. God's
all love, so I can just live and let live. The heart is deceitful, isn't
it? Above all things, desperately wicked. Men flatter themselves
in thinking many Men and women flatter themselves with false
hope. False hope. As we said last Sunday night,
we talked about dying. That was the subject of our message
Sunday night. Let's talk about dying. Let's
talk about it. And I said that most people really believe, I
really think they really believe that they're not going to die. That they're going to live forever,
and they act like it. And most people flatter themselves
with a false hope that they're not going to die, and if they
do, that there's no life after death, that there's nothing else
out there. They flatter themselves in thinking that death is a long
way off, when it might be very close. They flatter themselves,
a lot of people flatter themselves with their own morality, thinking
that's going to save them, that God is actually pleased with
them giving $5.00 in health insurance. attending Sunday school, or with
them being dunked in a bowl of water, or backed up, actually
flatter themselves into thinking that God pays attention to those
things. Some people flatter themselves with their intentions to someday
get saved. That tells me there is no fear
of God before people's eyes. that today is the day of salvation
and it may not be tomorrow, boast not thyself of tomorrow, you
don't know what a day may bring. And when those people put off
this thing that's so urgent, it tells me they don't believe
God. They don't believe God. Verse 2, he says, they flatter
themselves in their own eyes until his iniquity be found to
be hateful. Until his iniquity, or what he's
been doing, or has done, or has not done, or has not been doing,
be found to be hateful. Hateful to God is religion, is
wickedness, and hateful to himself. You know, there's going to come
a day when a man is going to loathe is going to loathe himself. He's going to absolutely kick
himself throughout all eternity for being so stupid, so foolish. You know that? We are our own worst enemies.
Verse 3, he says, the words of his mouth, this one, is the iniquity
and deceit. Iniquity and deceit. Scripture
says, Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Christ
said, By thy words thou shalt be justified, by thy words thou
shalt be condemned. Whatever a man thinks inside,
what comes out of his mouth. And the scripture says here,
the words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit, falsehood. He hath left off, verse 3, he
left off to be wise. He has left off to be wise and
do good. What is it to be wise? Well, Proverbs 1, verse 7, Proverbs
9, verse 10 says, The fear of God is the beginning of this
wisdom. That's where you start, with this wisdom. The fear of
God is the beginning of wisdom. Acknowledge that he is God, and
then faith in Christ is the end of that wisdom. Fear of God is
the beginning of wisdom. Faith in Christ is the end of
that wisdom. You see that he is all you need
to know, and the one you must know in order to have eternal
life. And the scripture says that people
have left off to be white and do good. That which is really
good and gives good work is that we believe on him whom God has
sent. That's what will do you good,
do us good. Verse 4, he says, they devise
mischief upon the bed. In other words, they lay in bed
and all they think about is the next day's evil or whatever,
goings-ons, the next day's goings-ons. If I has missed you from the
bed, he sets himself in a way that is not good, sets himself
in a way that is not good. Scripture says that There is
a way that seems right unto man, but at the end of it is death
and destruction. And no matter how right that
way may seem, I'm just being a good father and a good husband
and a good citizen. I'm just living a good moral
life and ignoring God and ignoring Christ, but I'm being a good
man. That's death and destruction. That way seems right. It seems
good, it seems right, but that's death and destruction. Or a way
of open immorality and evil, a way that seems right. You know,
the scripture says that always like Sheik hath gone astray,
we've turned every man to his own way, a way that's not good. Look at it there in verse 4,
it says, He abhorreth not evil. He abhorreth not evil. Immorality. You know, in our day, what was
considered, just about ten years ago, what was considered lewd
and evil and immoral is acceptable behavior now. Just ten years ago. Twenty or thirty
years ago, the things that are seen on average commercial and
television, It would have landed you in jail. Lose, now, acceptable behavior.
Abhorreth not evil. Immorality. Religion, too. Scripture says, Abhorreth not
evil. All the hypocrisy and blasphemy that goes on in the name of God
that's acceptable in the eyes, and it's the norm in religion
today. is absolutely an abomination
to the Holy God, absolutely an abomination. They abhoreth not evil, whether
it be open immorality or religious evil. They don't hate it. David said it, didn't he, in
Psalm 139. I hate them that hate thee. I hate this. Psalm 119,
128, do not I hate every false way. I hate it. He abhors not
evil. Well, this is man, isn't it?
These first four verses here, this is a picture of man. This
is by nature. This is a picture of our society.
This is a picture of our generation. This is a picture of mankind.
This is a picture of us by nature, isn't it? Were you not a child
of wrath even as others? Were you not like this at one
time, those of you who profess to be believers? Were you not
just like this fellow here, who had no fear of God before your
eyes, didn't give God a thought, a flip, could care less, flattering
yourselves? I ain't that bad. Words of your mouth, iniquities,
left off to be wise and do good. Were you not like that? Were
you not, Stan Anderson? Weren't you just like that at
one time? Feel pretty much like you still
like that at times. Devising mischief on your bed,
set yourself in a way and pursue those things which are not good,
didn't abhor evil, but you actually relished it and enjoyed it. That's man, isn't it? It's a
picture of man, these first four verses, who from the sole of
his feet to the top of his head, any old soundness in him. and
no soundness in him. He's evil. I say this all the
time, don't I? I'm just repeating what God's
word says from start to finish about mankind. You read it. Read it in Isaiah. Read it in
Jeremiah. That's all he says all the way through. He doesn't
find one good thing to say about man. Even God's people. Very little good to be said even
about his people. I was reading in Jeremiah this
morning, he said, Where is my fear? What he says there in Jeremiah,
several times, Where is the fear of God that you owe me? Don't
act like you fear me. He's saying that to God's people,
Israel. That's man, isn't it? And that was me. That is me. But God. Now let's look at God. That's a black picture, isn't
it? We're going to put the diamond, the gem, the pearl of great price,
this glorious diamond of God's attributes and person and work
against the black backdrop of our sin, and it's going to shine. See, that's the only place mercy
is really seen, Joe, against the blackness of sin. That's
the only place a sinner is going to shout for glory when he sees
his utter sinfulness. Look at verse 5. He says, But
thy mercy, O Lord. Oh, man, he's what a filthy,
despicable creature. But God, the great God, is merciful. Oh, thy mercy, O Lord, is in
the heavens. It's in the heavens. Follow along
with me now and see if you can See if you can understand what
the psalmist is saying here before I tell you. Mercy. Here's a good definition
of mercy. You know what mercy is? The way
some people think, the way some people act, they act as if mercy
is something that they deserve. Mercy is the opposite of that. Mercy is not getting what we
do deserve. Mercy is God not giving us what
we do deserve. Scripture says all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. And I've been talking about
how we ought to give God the glory, because what have all
these done for us? Heaven. How all men everywhere ought
to fear God. and worship Him. And what a high
privilege it is to be here this morning. And all have sinned and come
short of giving God this glory, and it's us. There's some in
here right now with their very eyes closed, and I'm talking
about the mercy of God. And it's of the mercy, God's
mercies, that they're not consumed at this very moment. Mercy. We're talking about the mercy
of God. Mercy is not getting what I deserve. What do I deserve? The wages of sin is death. What I have earned is death. What I deserve at the hands of
this God who has fed me, clothed me, provided for me, been merciful
and gracious and done all these things for me for forty years
now, what I deserve at his hand is for him to snuff me out. and
say, I've had it with you. Don't you? I feel that. I really, really feel that way.
That God ought to say to me, that's enough. I've done all
I'm going to do for the likes of you. Die. Get out of my sight, you
ungrateful human being. But you know what he gives? Mercy. He delights to show it. Mercy. That's not getting what
I do deserve. See, grace now. Now, mercy's
high enough. He says it's in the heavens.
His mercy's high. It's great. Great is his mercy. God delights in mercy. Grace
is getting what you don't deserve. You're heaping out things on
you that you don't deserve any of it. Not any of it. None have
dropped. And you're heaping things on.
That's all I need. There's more. What have I done? Nothing. What I do deserve is nothing. You deserve death. I didn't give
you that. That's my mercy. I'm giving you
grace, because Christ deserves, because of him, just for his
sake. Oh, God is merciful. Barnard
used to say, anything this side of hell is mercy. Anything. Anything. He also used to say, men better
be glad I'm not God. I wouldn't show such mercy, would
you? If somebody just spit on you
for 30 or 40 years and never give you a thought and all you
did for him was just be good to him, how long would you show
mercy? Would you? Well, Joe, how long would you
keep this thing going, this mess called the world? How long would
you keep it going? If you were God, let me ask you,
if you were God, how long would you put up with this world, the
way it's going right now? Man, I'd have snuffed her out
a long time ago. I'd have snuffed me out. But God. That's what David said over in
Samuel. He said, Is this the way of man? That's not what I'd
have done. I'd have never done it like that. But God. His mercy is in the
heaven. It's high. Psalm 103 says that. Oh, I was reading that blessed
psalm earlier today, and it says, listen to this. His mercy, let
me find it real fast. As the heaven is high above the
earth so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. It's high. That's a lot. He delights to
show mercy. What David's saying is, in childish
languages, he's got a lot of mercy. It's high. How much has he got? It's in
the heavens. Where's the end of it? Can't
see it. Can't see the end of it. You know what also he's saying
here? You read between the lines. God's
mercy. is in the heavens. Who's in the heavens? Christ. That's where God's mercy
is. He sitteth in the heavens. Colossians
3 says, Set your affection on things above, in the heavens,
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. There's a mercy
of God right there. A man. Oh, he, the heavenly one,
the holy one, the son of the highest, came down to this earth."
He came down, didn't he? He came down. Oh, he condescended,
took upon himself the form of a servant, the likeness of man. He said, I'm no man, I'm a worm. Man. Oh, but he descended, ascended,
and now he is seated on the right hand of the majesty on high,
where he ever lives to make intercession for sinners. Right there is God's
mercy, ever living. And that tells me, Terry, his
mercy is going to endure forever. God says, I'll be merciful to
sinners. How do I know that? Sitting in
the heavens. Nothing and no one can touch
him or bother him. That's God's mercy. Christ. Christ is God's
mercy. All the mercy of God to us is
in Christ. It's in Christ. Verse 5 says,
His faithfulness. Oh, how great is God's faithfulness. That's the reason I said when
we sung that song, if you couldn't worship God singing that song,
there's something wrong. Either we're just particularly
dead at this moment. while singing that, either we're
just particularly dead on this particular day and just not without
the Spirit of God on this very particular moment, or we're just
dead, period. If you can't worship God and
sing, Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father, there's no shadow
of turning with that. Oh, all those things, summer
and winter and springtime and harvest. Just on and on. The hymn writer talks about God's
faithfulness to his people. His faithfulness. It's in Under
the Clouds. How great is God's faithfulness.
He never fails. He never fails. He never forgets. I always forget some things that
my daughter asks me. I forget, and she reminds me
later on, and I feel bad about it. Daddy, you said you were—I
forgot. God never forgets. He never fails. He never leaves his people. He
never leaves his people. He never breaks his promise.
God doesn't. Great is thy faithfulness. David
said in Psalm 139, such knowledge is too wonderful for me. That's what David said there.
Keep quoting Psalm 139. Be a good thing to read. He said,
such knowledge is too high for me. I can't imagine somebody
being so faithful to me, to the likeness of me, to the
likes of me. Scripture says, when we believe
not. Don't you love that scripture, John? When we believe not yet,
but He abideth faithful. Deny him, but he can't deny himself. That's God's character, isn't
it? Fifty-one times it says in the
Psalms, his mercy endured forever. That's his faithfulness in being
merciful and gracious and saving his people. Fifty-one times. Let me ask you this. How long
has God been merciful to you? Has God been merciful to you?
Charles Ross, you're seventy-some years old, aren't you? Has God
been merciful to you? Well, you're seventy-one now? Well, you're in your seventy-first
year. You're going along. You're one
year more than the Scripture said you're supposed to be living
by. Every day is mercy. from here
on out, from there on here and here on out. Every day is God's
mercy. Has he been merciful to you for
seventy years now? Oh, my! Is he going to keep being
merciful to you, Charles? Seventy years now, that's a long
time, isn't it? Seventy years, that's a long
time to make. That's old. Seventy years. I marvel at God's mercy to me
in thirty-nine years. I marvel at God's mercy to me
in that amount of time. My sin is ever before me. I'm a vile man. But God, who
is rich in mercy, has been merciful to me from day one. Well, is he going to stop? He shows mercy, he keeps on showing
it. Save him mercy. Once he does,
he keeps on showing it. My, my. Oh, my, my, my. We got a better reason to worship
this morning than this one word, mercy. Look at all these thy's
here. You see all these thy's? Did
you notice that? Thy mercy, verse 5. Thy faithfulness,
verse 6. Thy righteousness, verse 6. Thy
judgment, verse 7. Thy love and kindness, verse
7. Thy wings, verse 8. Thy house,
verse 9. Thy light. Oh, the Lord hath done a wonderful
thing for me where I am glad. mercy, and thy faithfulness reaches
unto the clouds." Verse 6 says, "...thy righteousness is like
the great mountains." If a man had entered into that
one little verse there, he'd understand something. If the
Lord revealed that short line to him, I believe he'd reveal
the gospel to him. "...thy righteousness is like the great mountains. Mount Sinai. Holiness. God is holy. Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God. Thy righteousness. God's essential
person is righteousness. One fool preacher, foolish preacher,
who doesn't know a thing about the righteousness of wrote an
article in the paper, our paper, about a week or two after I wrote
one. The article I wrote was talking
about our God, how his essential character, his greatest attribute
is holiness. And that man wrote a couple of
weeks later. I knew who he was talking about.
Talk about And he said, everybody knows that God is morally pure. That's his idea of holiness and
righteousness, to be morally pure. He said everybody knows
that. He said what everybody needs
to come to know is the love of God. No, everybody doesn't know just
what purity is, what holiness is. Right? That's the beginning
of wisdom. That's the beginning of understanding
the righteousness of God, isn't it? Which men are so desperately
ignorant of in Romans 10. He said, so they're going about
their stubbornness, and had not submitted to the righteousness
of God, the only one they can have that God will accept is
Christ. God, he says here, thy righteousness
is like the great mountains. Mount Sinai, I can't climb it.
I can't take a foot. It's like the old mountain of
old, the children of Israel. The children of Israel couldn't
come near it, could they? They couldn't touch it. Mount
Sinai, that's a symbol of God's holiness and God's law and God's
perfection and God's person. The children of Israel couldn't
come near it. lest they were burned or destroyed,
annihilated, couldn't come near it. Men are trying to climb it
today. I actually think they're doing
it, making a little progress. Oh, it's standing just like the
mountains, isn't it? High and lofty, unreachable,
unreachable like the mountains. His righteousness is like that
great mount called Calvary to him. You want to see the righteousness
of God? You want to see the holiness
of God? If that preacher wants to see the moral purity, as he
calls it, of God, watch him kill his son on Calvary's tree. What's that mean? What's that
supposed to mean? The first thing you'll see is
the holiness of God right there, the righteousness of God. He's
like that mountain. Verse 6, "'Thy judgments are
a great deep.'" That's another word for God's Word, God's judgments,
God's precepts, God's ways. God's ways, that's what that
means. God's ways are very, very deep. God's ways, the Scripture
says, are past, find thee now. I get tired of hearing these
preachers. You hear what I said? Should I say his name or shouldn't
I? I won't say his name. But preachers know everything, don't
they? They know everything. That's the reason they're so
wordy. That's the reason they don't stop to take a breath. That's the reason they go between
syllables. They know everything there is
to know about God. They've got all the answers. God's judgments are deep. David
says it's deep. They're past finding out. Scripture
says it's deep. God's ways are deep. And he doesn't give an account
of his matters, Job said. He doesn't give an account, he
doesn't let these guys in on what he's doing. Verse 6, read on, he says, they're
great, they're deep. Oh Lord, thou preservest man
and beast. Thou preservest man and beast. And there's not much difference
between the two. John Calvin said one time, he
said, man is not one cut above the beast. He said, really, I
issue an apology to the beast. The ox knows his owner, the ass
knows his master's crib, the bird sings unto God. Man, such
a high and lofty creature as man, as birds do. God preserves man and beast.
The only one of those two he ought to preserve is the beast.
He made them first. He didn't mess this planet up,
did he? The beast, poor beasts. The scripture says the whole
creation groans because of man. The beast groans because of man. I walk in the woods and everything
runs. I'm not going to hurt They don't know that. Most men do. God preserved man. God ought
to shoot us and leave the beasts, shouldn't he? Huh? God ought
to shoot us. We ought to be extinct species. God preserveth man and beast. God provides for man and beast. seeks his meat from God, the
Scripture says. That's where man gets it, too.
Verse 7. Oh, Lord, how excellent is thy
lovingkindness. How excellent is thy lovingkindness. Oh, my lovingkindness. Ed, I've
heard you talk about this word, a beautiful Old Testament word. And the closest thing we can
find in the New Testament, really, is But loving-kindness, you break
those two words down, and both words are just lovely and kind. Loving-kindness. His loving acts
of kindness. God's so kind. So kind. God's so loving. Loving-kindness. Acts of love. Gifts of love.
The sun of his love. Oh, my wages we've earned as
death, the gift of God's life. Oh, my lovingkindness. God's lovingkindness,
O God. I love that Psalm 51, don't you? That's perhaps most believers'
favorite, favorite psalm. Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to thy lovingkindness. According to the multitude of
your tender mercy, all that mercy you've got, I need a little more.
I need a little more. Loving, I know you'll have mercy
on me because you're loving and you're so kind. How long will
I be merciful to my daughter? How long will I put up with her?
How long will I provide for her? A long time. Why? Because I love her and I
just like being kind to her. I like being kind a whole lot
more than I do being Don't you? You parents, would
you rather whip your children or kiss your children? Which
is it? I know which it is if you don't
whip them enough. I know. You do far more of one than you
do the other. Not nearly enough of the other
as you do the one. That's what God does, though.
He's loving, He's kind, He's Read on, "...thy lovingkindness,
O God, O God, you are so loving and kind. Therefore the children
of men," that is believers, true believers, "...they put their
trust under the shadow of thy wing." The shadow of thy wing. You sang that song earlier. Charles
Wesley wrote, Jesus Christ leather of my soul, let me to thy bosom
fly, while the nearer waters roll, while the tempest still
is high. Hide me, O my Savior, hide, until
the storms of life be past. Shelter my defenseless head till
the storms of life be past." He wrote that song when he was
standing by a window. Those of you who haven't heard
this story, he was standing by a window during a thunderstorm. The windows were open, and in
from that thunder and lightning and vicious rain flew a little
sparrow. And he had his robe on, his house
robe on, and that bird flew right into his house robe. He just, instead of, you know,
he just said, I'm just going to, you stay right there, you'll
be all right. I'll protect you. Under his wings,
the song says, I am safely abiding. Under his wings. The shadow of
his wings. Christ said that to his children
in old Jerusalem. How often would I have gathered
thee like a mother hen does gather her brood? She would not. Oh, I want to stay in the nest,
don't you? There's safety there. The picture
I get is of an eagle. You know, Scripture says we shall
mount up on wings of an eagle. Whose eagle? Whose wings are
we going to mount on? Are we going to fly into God's
presence on our own? Oh, his wings. His wings. picture I gets of an eagle, you
know, everything in an eagle, R-O-C-E-N-I, power, glory, eagle,
freedom, eagle hovering over her nest, those wings all fluttered
out over her, and there's those little chickens, those little
fuzzy-headed, you see them, little baby birds, oh, they're so ugly,
aren't they? Fuzzy little head, they ain't
got any feathers. They can't fly if you throw them. That's
how I send it. Fuzzy head little sinners. I
picture a little eagle that's sitting in that nest under the
wings of that great bird. And all they can do is eat. That's all they can do. And that big bird, you know.
And maybe one of them peeps his head out from under the wings.
looks high. I'm scared. Stay right there. Stay right there. But look out
there, it's danger. Look at that fox. Stay right
there. I've got you. Under my wings. When he sent me, be right back. Under his wings. That's where
I want to be. I don't want to be no independent
bird. Sorry, Violet. I don't want to
be under his wing. Under his wing. The shadow. You notice it said the shadow
of his wing. Shadow. Sometimes there's darkness. Sometimes
there's mystery. Sometimes there's not so much
light shed on things. Sometimes we don't know what's
going on, do we? We're still under the wing. You got that? shadow of his wing. Read on.
Oh my, they shall, these chiclets, they shall be abundantly satisfied
with the fatness of thy house. Starving little birds, you know,
as skinny as little rails. They just need constant nourishment,
don't they? They can never get enough, except when they're resting,
when they're asleep. They can never get enough. Oh,
we've got those mouths open. And that mother—there's a bluebird
making a nest right now over in a tree. My father-in-law built a birdhouse,
and I put that birdhouse up in a tree in hopes that some little
bird would go into it. And I put it in a place near
my house so that I could watch over it. And finally a little
bluebird came, a little mother and her husband, and they built
a nest. And they're starting to raise
their young now. And I'm watching over that house.
You see, I put a house, I built a house, and they made their
nest in it. And I watched that mother bluebird
all the time, peep her head out, starting to sit on those eggs
now. Watch her sit out, or peep her head out and look. And so
we'll watch the Father bring worms and all in, and everybody's
getting along just fine. Getting fed, those birds are
eventually going to be fat, fat birds. And I thought, you know,
that's us. Our Father's built a house. It's
called his church. His church. And Christ is the
one we feed upon. these Holy Spirits the one that
feeds us. And we get, we get satisfied in this house. God put me in this house. God
put this house here, and he put this little bird in it. And here
I am, and I'm just, I'm just feasting on fat things and wine
on the leaf. And he's feeding my soul. Feeding
my soul. He says in verse 8, and let's
hurry, "...they shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness, the
goodness, and the things offered in the house. He shall give them
to drink of the river of thy pleasures." There's lots to eat
in this house. A lot of bread and a lot of water. Bread and water. Lots of meat.
Lots of meat. Read on. Rivers of pleasure.
Verse 9, "...with thee is the fountain of life." There's a
fountain, there's a fountain filled with blood, drawn from
Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunge beneath that flood, lose
all their guilty stains. There's a fountain, fountain
of life. Christ says, I am life. I give
unto them eternal life. There is a fountain. We may freely
drink up a fountain. And thy lights, verse 9, thy
light, in thy lights we shall see light. This is important,
OK? In thy light shall we see light." There's only true light
or understanding or knowledge or discernment in knowing the
true and living God. God is light. Anyone who doesn't
know the true God is in darkness. And more particularly, more specifically,
Christ, who is light, in his light we see light. As 2 Corinthians
4 says, God has shined in our hearts. When the gospel comes
to an ignorant, blind sinner, the gospel comes, he sheds the
light of the glory of God, his person. We see that light in
the face, in the light, Christ who is the light. In thy light,
we shall see light. You see that? In Christ, man
sees You can only start to understand God, and only understand spiritual
things in light of Christ. Outside of him, Christ, everything's
darkened. It's a mystery, Sherry. You understand? Outside of Christ,
everything's—this book's a mystery. But in thy light, in Christ,
we see light. Right, Jeanette? Christ, who
is light. God shines and gives the light
and the knowledge and the glory of God in a face. that John said shines as the
sun shining in its strength. I like that, whether you did
or not. Verse 10, O continue thy lovingkindness
unto them that know thee. He will, David, he will. And thy righteousness to the
upright in heart, continue to cover me in that imputed righteousness."
It's not imputed nonsense to me, it's my salvation. Continue
thy righteousness to the upright in heart of those that really
need this righteousness. Continue it, O Lord. He's praying
here. Continue it, O Lord. He will, David. He will. Verse 11, Let not the foot of
pride come against me. Don't let me fall into the trap
of the devil. He's the one, the wicked one.
If I be lifted up with pride, I've fallen into the condemnation
of the devil, thinking I'm something when I'm nothing. Don't let the
foot of pride come against me. Let not the hand of the wicked
one remove me." He won't, David. He won't. Verse 12. That's where the workers of iniquity
fall. That's how this whole thing started, how David began. They're cast down. What's cast
down? What is it that casts us down?
Sin? What goes before a fire? Pride. And that's the reason I've said
so many times, and I'm just quoting other men. Man's sins won't keep him from
God. his self-righteousness will, his pride will, his pride will
keep him from God. That's what it does. That's where
the workers of iniquity are falling. Think there's something when
there's nothing. Think they can do something when they can't.
Think God will accept them when he won't, and they're cast down
and won't be able to rise. But be not thou cast down, O
my soul, See, God does the opposite for his people. He breaks us.
He humbles us. He brings us down. Why? He might lift us up. And those
that rise up, he'll bring down. Those that exalt themselves shall
be amazed, the Scripture says. But he that humbles himself,
or that God humbles and breaks and brings down by his Word,
by this preaching I'm we're doing right now, brings down, He'll
raise them up, exalt them to the stars, to the heavens, to
the clouds.