Turn to Psalm 98 again, if you
will. You know, it's exactly eight weeks
ago today that I was to have been here preaching. And due to the Friday before
that, we found out that my wife Becky had cancer and We had a
very early Monday morning appointment with her surgeon and Henry graciously
suggested that he come here to speak for which I know it's always
great to have the admiral of the fleet come instead of one
of the deckhands. Henry to which I was grateful
that he could do that. And then Henry asked me, he said,
Well, I'll have to get someone to speak for me there. He said,
Why don't you speak on Sunday night? And at first, I really
wondered whether or not I would be able to do that, because the
entire congregation was keenly aware of the situation, and it
was emotional. And candidly, what we knew at
that point really led us to believe that Becky's situation would
probably be terminal. And I thought this morning it might
be appropriate, if I brought you the message that I brought
that Sunday night, I hope it will benefit and profit
you as it did me. It was an untold blessing to
me to—the Lord The Lord was so gracious to me in that situation.
So, let's look again at Psalm 98. And Psalm 98 begins, O sing unto
the Lord a new song, for he hath done marvelous things. Now, you know, we're singing
a song all day long. We may not be using notes and
music and all this, When you talk, what you say all day long,
what you say is a reflection of what you think. What you say
is a reflection of what's in your heart. And we just talk
all day long, don't we? We just talk. And to those who
listen, it's a song. We're singing a song they're
listening to. And generally, it's very revealing what we sing
about, what we talk about. Because generally, we talk about
what's really important to us. We talk about what's marvelous
in our eyes. We talk about what's marvelous
to us. And generally, it's a whole lot of talk about children and
grandchildren, our children, our grandchildren. We talk about
our sports and our hobbies and our jobs and money. And our favorite
topic, of course, is we talk about ourselves, don't we? But you know, A believer's favorite
song ought to be about the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because it says here, He hath
done marvelous things. He hath done marvelous things.
And marvelous here means He's done things that make you wonder.
He's done things that will cause you to look in absolute awe. He's done things that will cause
you to admire who he is. He's done things that will cause
you to reverence his name. He has done marvelous things. And do we really think that our
child hitting a home run or scoring a touchdown is marvelous? Do
we really think when our child can do a back handspring that
that's marvelous? Do we think when our grandchild,
when we show our photographs, or they take their first step,
that that's worthy of wonder? Now, I'm guilty of this. You listen to this. Do we really
think that five-pound bass is due any reverence? I've held
up a few. Yeah, I've held up a few. Is
my ambition and my job performance, does it inspire awe? Is my beauty
or my physique or my personage, does it really make people step
back and wonder? Well, let me tell you, not compared
to this next phrase. It says, He hath done marvelous
things, our Lord hath, for his right hand and his holy arm hath
gotten him the victory. Oh, none of those things compared
to the right hand, the holy arm. of Almighty God. No, those things
pale, don't they? Not compared to our Lord Jesus
Christ, who has done marvelous things and has therefore gotten
the victory. Folks who've seen Christ, you know what they do? They slow down on singing that
old song. And those old tunes, you know,
they just sort of fade away a little bit, and they tend to get in
tune with the new song. That new song, Glory to our God
in the highest, Amazing grace, Who saved a wretch like me. Oh,
the new song just gets picked up more and more. And when you
come together like this, all you want to do is hear a new
verse, isn't it? You want to learn them all. And that's all
we're here for this morning. I just want to sing you a new
verse. Just one more verse. And it's not really a new verse.
It's just the same tune with a little different beat, maybe.
What is the victory here? It says that our Lord Jesus Christ
has gotten him the victory. What is this victory over? It's
got to be an enemy, and there's going to be a battle and be a
victory, right? Well, it's over sin. Over sin. And verse 2 here,
it says, "...the Lord hath made known his salvation." His righteousness
hath he openly showed in the sight of the heathen." You know,
salvation is not through any of the things that we have done.
That's why the things we've done aren't so marvelous. But that's
why salvation is through the marvelous things that Christ
has done. You want to know what they are? What are the marvelous
things that Christ has done? It says He's gotten the victory.
He's made known His salvation. It's no secret this morning.
I'm not telling you any new thing, but we're going to do it one
more time with a little different tune. All right? And here it
is. One of the marvelous things He's
done. You know the first marvelous thing Christ did? He made Himself
a man. God Almighty became a man. Now,
if that doesn't make you go, step back in awe of what would.
Huh? God Almighty in the heavens came
down here and put on flesh like us. Hmm? If you and I were a
king, if we were a king, a high potentate, we wouldn't condescend
to eat with the peasants, would we? Huh? God Almighty came down
here as a man. That's a marvelous thing. Marvelous
thing he did. It's a wonder. Jesus Christ came
into the world to save sinners. That's good news for sinners.
That's marvelous news to sinners. That'll cause you to stop and
think long. The second thing he did that's marvelous in the
light of his salvation is that Jesus Christ died. God died? God Almighty first became a man
and then he died? That's right, at Calvary. Jesus
Christ died. That ought to make us wonder.
Now, why did he die? To put away the sins of his people.
He died for sin. And it says here in the last
half of verse 2, it says, his righteousness have he openly
showed, revealed. That's a marvelous thing. Boy,
that's marvelous, isn't it? Aren't you glad that he's done
that? He's showed it to us. Some people he's really revealed
it to. He's shown us this is what I've done. I became a man
and I've died in the place of sinners. Oh, you see, he lived
a righteous life on this earth. That's marvelous. That really
ought to inspire some admiration from some of us who've ever tried
to be good and found out just how impossible it is with the
nature we've got. Yeah, if you ever got up one morning and said,
Today it's going to be different. I'm going to do what I ought
to do all day long. Well, you might get through breakfast.
Right? It ought to inspire awe that
the Lord Jesus Christ for thirty-three years never had an evil thought.
lived perfectly, absolutely obedient to God's law, a perfect son. That's awesome. Another thing
our Lord did that's marvelous in the light of His salvation,
and maybe best of all, is that Christ became a substitute, a
twofold substitute. Now, you see, you and I haven't
been righteous. We've been sinners, and therefore
something's got to be done with that sin. The price has got to
be paid. We've got a just, recompensive
reward coming. Does anybody want the reward?
I don't. Well, thanks being to God, Jesus
Christ did a marvelous thing. He became my substitute and took
the penalty for my sin at Calvary. That's what He was doing. That's
marvelous. But He also became a substitute in that someday
when I've got to go before God and I'm supposed to be perfect
to enter into His presence, I'll find out the Lord Jesus Christ
is my substitute and He's already entered for me. Oh, that's marvelous
news. That's marvelous news. Now, I
don't have to go in my filthy rags. I can go in a robe of His
righteousness. That's marvelous. I like that. And then, lastly, the other marvelous
thing He's done in the light of His salvation is that even
though He died, He didn't stay dead. He rose from the dead. Now, I tell you what, if I walked
out here to the cemetery and read some name across some stone
and said, old Joe Smith, I said, Joe, come out of that grave.
Joe came up out of that grave. Boy, everybody goes, huh. You
do understand that Jesus Christ was in the grave, and he came
out, and we ought to go, huh. He lives. He lives. Isn't that marvelous? Huh? And
the good news is what really ought to make you marvel is that
since he lives, there's a chance I might live. That's marvelous. That's good news. Oh, I'm so
glad for that news. Yeah. Listen, it may have been a great
thing the day you and I married our spouse. Some of you may be
like me, you plumb out and married yourself. It was a marvelous
thing to me when she said yes. And it may be a great thing when
that firstborn comes along, that child. And it's a great thing
if you get some promotion. Or maybe it'd be a great thing,
you think, if you won the lottery. Maybe it's a great thing if you
went on some fine vacation or whatever, but let me tell you
something. If any of those things are more marvelous than the things
I just said, then we're not here in this gospel. We've not seen
it with eyes of faith and heard it with a heart of belief. Now,
Jesus Christ took our sin and gave us his righteousness. Look
at verse 3 here. He hath remembered his mercy
and his truth toward the house of Israel. He's done all these
marvelous things, but then he didn't just forget about them.
You know, we think to do a lot of good things, don't we? And
then we forget about them, don't we? We don't remember. It says
here, He's remembered. Isn't that a good thing? Isn't
that a marvelous thing? He's remembered them, but not just
remembered, but He's remembered toward somebody, toward His people,
toward Israel. All the ends of the earth have
seen the salvation of our God. Make a joyful noise unto the
Lord, all the earth. Make a loud noise and rejoice
and sing praise. It's no wonder we're singing
a new song. We got something to sing about, don't we? We got
somebody to sing about. We ought to marvel. Turn over
to Ecclesiastes 5, and I want to show you a couple of things
real quick. We are to marvel now. We are to go through this
life marveling. But we want to be careful. that
we don't marvel at all the wrong things. You know, if we're left
alone to our own nature, do you know what we do? We just marvel
at the wrong things. It's no wonder our kids get involved
with rock stars and all the trends and everything else. It's just
their nature makes them want to marvel at the wrong things.
And we will, too. So there's some things we're
to be careful not to marvel at. You see, Ecclesiastes 5, look
at verse 8. If thou seest the oppression
of the poor, and the violent perverting of judgment and justice
in a country, if you see those things, marvel not at the matter. You see that? We're not supposed
to marvel. It should not amaze us. It should not amaze us to
see all of this violence in Rwanda, all the violence in Haiti. It
shouldn't shock you to see one of those policemen just flailing
away on the top of the head of somebody just standing there
doing nothing. Shouldn't amaze us. Don't marvel at that. It
shouldn't amaze you that somebody's knocking on the door of your
church every day with their handout, wanting food or money or whatever
it is, that there's just folks walking the streets in Atlanta
recently, and I walked three blocks and was asked, I think,
fourteen or sixteen times for a handout. It shouldn't amaze
us. It shouldn't marvel at that.
It says right here, doesn't it say that? Don't marvel at that.
It shouldn't amaze us that you can't get a fair trial. The perversion—doesn't
it say, the perversion of judgment and justice? It's no wonder the
courts are a circus. It shouldn't amaze us. It says
right here, don't marvel at that. No. You want to marvel at something? It shouldn't marvel us one bit. All that's going on—drugs and
all the abuse and everything else. You want to marvel at something
you don't marvel at? The fact that the Lord Jesus
Christ restrains us from being a part of it. We ought to marvel at the fact
that who we are by nature, that God Almighty doesn't let us just
slip off into whatever. That's a marvel, folks. That's
a marvel. It's a marvelous thing that Jesus
Christ restrains us from those things. A marvelous thing to
a believer is that God, for Christ's sake, forgives us when we do. Turn to 2 Corinthians 11 for
a minute. 2 Corinthians 11. And before
you turn, have you still got Ecclesiastes? Let me read you
one other thing. Let me give you some comfort about all those
things going on, why you don't have to worry about them. Don't
have to marvel about them. It's the last phrase of that,
it says, For he that is higher than the highest regards, and
there be higher than they. You don't have to worry about
the courts and the beatings and the poverty and all that. See,
you don't have to worry about that. There's somebody watching over
it all. God Almighty's watching it all. Okay? And don't misunderstand
me. We are to give to the poor. I
mean, in Ashton, the boy's home, the orphan's home in town, burned
down about three or four weeks ago. And every day there's been
a picture of somebody on the front of the paper that the so
and so fireman's benevolent association gave one hundred fifty dollars
to rebuild a home. And you know every day there's somebody picture
hand over a check and all this kind of thing. And I happen to overhear the other
night that Henry mentioned at one time just in passing in the
pulpit and I happen to hear the treasurer there they say Henry
we got about three thousand dollars that folks put in the offering
to give the boys home and said we send it out there. We ought to do that. We ought
to do that. What we ought not to do is put it on the front
page of the paper. See the difference? They got
their reward when they've done that. All right. But nobody had
to beat us up or ask us for anything else. God's people are conscious
of that. All I'm telling you is don't marvel at it. That's
not what the ministry is. You don't need to get caught
up here with trying to feed the poor children in Africa. You
can't get it done. You can't get it done. You understand? And God's regarding that anyway.
It's serving His purpose. He's allowing it to happen for
a purpose. Didn't mean to get off on that, but turn to 2 Corinthians
11. 2 Corinthians. Chapter 11. Marvel not at the wrong things,
and let me show you something to be cautious about here. 2
Corinthians 11, verse 3. I fear, lest by any means is
the serpent of Gaudi through us subtly, so your man should
be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ, from the oneness
that is in Christ. You say, how's that going to
happen? Look over at verse 13. For such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles
of Christ. And no marvel, no marvel, for Satan himself is
transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great
thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers
of righteousness, whose ends shall be according to their works."
Don't get all, listen, don't get all fired up over watching
these guys on TV. doing all these crazy things,
all this wild religion. Don't marvel at that, and don't
get upset about it. It's just, we're not to take
part in it, and we're to condemn it. But listen, let's not get
soundtracked on all that stuff. Leave it alone. You understand?
Don't marvel at it. Don't make that the issue, because
it's not the issue. And the Scriptures are full of
situations where all that was happening. Listen, the Jews marveled
on the day of Pentecost. Listen to me. They marveled.
Do you remember that? They marveled, it says, on the day of Pentecost.
When the apostles came together, and it says they preached, and
it said like tongues like cloven hooves of fire descended on the
assembly. Can you imagine such a thing?
And everybody spoke in the tongue of the person who needed to hear
it in the language. And you know what happened? It
says those men marveled, marveled at the tongues. And you know
what? They missed the one who was being
preached. They went away marveling, and
it's still in our day. There's still people making a
whole lot of stuff over this tongues thing, and they're missing
the Lord Jesus Christ. You understand? So don't marvel
at the wrong thing. You see by nature how we will.
There was a Pharisee who asked the Lord Jesus Christ to come
to supper. And you know what it says? He marveled that the
Lord didn't wash his hands. Can you imagine sitting down
to eat with God Almighty and human flesh and getting all upset
because he didn't wash his hands? The one who could have washed
his soul could have made him clean white as a driven snow.
And he's sitting there condemning him because he didn't wash his
hands. You see how by nature we'll marvel at the wrong things. Turn to Psalm 9 with me. Psalm 9. There was another instance
where the Jews marveled that an untaught carpenter, the son
of a carpenter, could read the Scriptures. They stood around
the synagogue talking about the fact that this ignorant carpenter
could read, and they missed the fact that the Word of the human
flesh was standing there in front of them. And all they can talk
about is, can you believe he can really read? Instead of falling
down at the feet of the Word incarnate, God in human flesh,
Jesus Christ before them. I tell you, God, we don't want
Him to leave us alone. We'll marvel. We'll get all wrapped
up in the wrong things. Psalm 9, look at verse 1 here.
I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart. I will show forth
all thy marvelous works. I will be glad and rejoice in
thee. I will sing praise to thy name,
O Most High." Don't get marveling about the tongues or the kind
of worship or the place or anything else. Just concentrate on Christ. You know, Brother Charlie Payne,
I just messed up my family something awful when I first started the
gospel. I ran telling them all the wrong things. And Charlie
said, Bob, quit trying to say this and say that. Just tell
them Who Christ is, as he showed himself to you, and what he has
done for you, and quote him some scripture. You see, don't marvel
at, don't get caught up in the wrong things. Marvel at Christ. I will sing praise to thy name,
O Most High. That's where, that's where it
is. And you know, God is always, always has and still is, now
doing marvelous things. Did you know that? He's always
done marvelous things, and He's still doing marvelous things,
and He always will do marvelous things. Whether we're talking
about—now, most of the things that we spend our time talking
about are concerned with when Christ came into this world,
when He was born as a baby in the manger. And then when he
lived, and then when he preached, and then when he was crucified,
and then when he was buried, and then he rose again. And we
talked about that, because that's what the whole portion of the
first part of the New Testament is about, is the coming of Christ,
and his establishing a righteousness, and his dying for sin. And those
are marvelous things. But you know, he's always done
marvelous things. And in the Old Testament, you know what
that's all about? All the Old Testament is, is
pointing to the marvelous things that He was going to do when
He came. You know that? That's why so many of them have
to do with Egypt, and the coming out of Egypt, and going into
the Promised Land, because it's a great picture. You see, Israel
down in Egypt is a picture of us in sin. And coming out and
wandering in the wilderness is just like us—lost, just lost. And then being trapped up against
the Red Sea is what's going to do to us. It'll kill us if God
doesn't deliver us. And then the opening up of the sea, the
Red Sea, oh, it's like the riven side of the Lord Jesus Christ. His blood was shed. Christ was
spread open. The Red Sea divides. And we walk
down, we go into Christ. Oh, and we're delivered. We're
saved. And we come out and we go into the Promised Land. Some
days come back to get us. You see, in the whole Old Testament,
it's just one more revelation of the marvelous things He did.
He did all that knowing His Son was coming, and those people,
seeing those marvelous things, understood what salvation was
about. Turn to Isaiah 29 with me. Isaiah
29. And as these Old Testament things
were retold, by the power of God's Spirit, Christ was revealed
to God's people. That's the means he used to reveal
himself. And left alone, men are blind
to sin and don't seek Christ. Just don't do it. But you see
here in Isaiah 29, look at verse 13, that's what this says here.
Verse 13 of Isaiah 29, Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this
people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do
honor me, but have removed their hearts far from me, and their
fear toward me is taught by the precepts of men. Verse 14, "...therefore,
behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among the people."
What that says is that if I leave them alone, they'll go the wrong
way. They'll just wander in the wilderness forever lost. But
he's saying, I'm going to do something marvelous for them.
He says, "...a marvelous work among his people, even a marvelous
work and a wonder. For the wisdom of their wise
men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be
hid." If natural wisdom won't take us the right way, there's
got to be some revelation of this marvelous way. And look
at verse 18. And in that day, when I do this marvelous work,
shall the deaf hear the words of the book? Oh, you know why
everybody doesn't hear this? Because we're all born deaf,
is why. Unless he opens up an ear, nobody
hears it. And it says, the eyes of the
blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness. Why doesn't
everybody see this gospel and rejoice and be glad? Because
we're blind by nature. If He doesn't yank the darkness
off our eyes, scales off our eyes, nobody, we don't see it.
But this is one of the marvelous things He's going to do. He's
going to show us. He's going to let us hear the gospel. In
verse 19, And the meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord,
and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
Listen. The marvelous things God's done,
number one, is that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ. His salvation,
the work of salvation, just nothing eclipses that, and that's why
I dealt with it first. That's the most marvelous thing He's
done. The second thing is that He's revealed it to some people.
That's number two. Here's number three. Number three,
stay right here, is that is that God does marvelous things that
His people might continually reverence and worship Him. It's
not enough. It's not enough that He's accomplished
salvation in that marvelous work. It's not enough that He's revealed
it to us. You know what else He's going to do? He's going
to make us fall down on our faces and love it. He's going to make
us worship it, worship Christ. You see here in verse 23 of Isaiah
29, it says, "...but when he seeth his children," now we're
talking about children here now, you know what it says? Children,
"...when he seeth his children, the work of mine hands in the
midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, they shall set me apart,
they shall worship me as holy, and sanctify the Holy One of
Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel." Oh, he's going to
do a marvelous thing, he's going to make the stiff neck But both
back people fall down on our faces and his feet and go, oh,
help me! Help me! I'm in trouble. And
when he shows this, Christ will go, oh, this is marvelous. This
is marvelous. Mmm, this is good news. And the
fourth thing he's going to do is that God does marvelous things
that we might be corrected and gain an increase in understanding.
Right here in verse 24. They also, these same children,
that erred in spirit," oh, they would have—if he left us alone,
we'd do it the wrong way. See? "...that erred in spirit
shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall
learn doctrine," and that's be instructed. He'll teach us. You know how he does that? That's
what we're here for this morning. He'll bring you to come sit under
his Word. And then, let me show you one
other thing here. Turn to Psalm 105, and I'll show
you the fifth and final thing. marvelous thing that God has
done. Remember, he's finished the work of redemption. He's
accomplished that. He's revealed it to his people. He's made them worship, fall
down at his son's feet. He's given them understanding,
increased their understanding. And then, in the fifth place,
he'll cause them to seek Christ. to seek Christ. See Psalm 105,
look at verse 1. Give thanks unto the Lord, call
upon his name, make known his deeds among the people. Sing
unto him. You see the same thread that
runs through this? Sing unto him. Sing psalms unto him. Talk
ye of all his wondrous works. And that word is marvelous. Sing
of all his—talk ye of all his marvelous works. Glory you in
his holy name. Let the heart of them rejoice
that seek the Lord. Seek the Lord in his strength.
Seek his face evermore. Remember his marvelous works
that he hath done, his wonders in the judgments of his mouth."
What do we come together to worship for? What do we come to the Lord's
table for? To remember Christ. To remember all—oh, if we've
forgotten the marvelous things he's done for us, then maybe
Maybe nothing's been done. Oh, it's marvelous. And now,
in the next few minutes, let me just—let me get to where the
rubber meets the road. Okay? I hope the Lord will bless
this to you. You know, most of us have no
problem seeing the marvelous things that God does when we
perceive them as being good. Yeah. John was talking about
he's got a new truck. It's worrying him a little bit.
He's afraid he likes it too much. It's all right. It's a good thing
to have after the Sunday school lesson. He said, maybe I got
too much. Maybe I'm too rich. It's all right to have good things.
It's all right. Sometimes the Lord's blessings
just parallel, you know, materially they parallel our walk with Him.
There's nothing wrong with those things at all. But most of us
have no problem seeing marvelous things that God does if we think
they're good. But, listen to this. You know,
we see a stringer full of fish as a marvelous thing. But how
do we see an empty stringer? You know, we see a fine meal
at a restaurant as a nice thing. But how about cold food, lousy
service, and a tough portion of meat? Are we just as happy
with that? Could a poor year financially
be as marvelous a thing as prosperity? Now listen to me. For a believer, for a believer,
it ought to be so. It ought to be so. Whether we
see and understand or believe and rejoice in that truth or
not, it's still so. It's still true. On the authority
of God's Word, everything, everything, everything God does is marvelous. Everything. Our favorite scripture
does not say, some things work out for good to them that love
God and are called according to his purpose. Do I offer it
at all if I say, all things are marvelous? marvelous to them
that love God, and are called according to His purpose." If
we don't see that, okay, it's only because of our own darkness,
because it's still so. The Scripture says, you're a
chosen people, a priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people. You know what makes us peculiar?
that you should show forth the praises of him who called you
out of darkness into his marvelous light. It will make you peculiar
if you perceive sickness just as marvelous as good health."
The darkness is ours. It's our understanding by nature.
The marvelous part is who Christ is in everything he does. Everything
he does is in the marvelous light. And let me illustrate this for
you now. I don't know if y'all are even aware of the fact that
four weeks before Becky got sick, we found out she had cancer and
my mother died. And I'm going to admit something
to you. I was having a hard time thinking
that was a marvelous thing. I was having a hard time with
that. But I think by his grace that Christ has brought me to
a little more out of my darkness and maybe into his light concerning
this matter. I've begun by His grace to marvel—marvel
even in this. And let me just tell you a couple
things about it. Now, both my father and my mother are dead.
And the Scripture says, when my mother and father forsake
me—now, they never forsook me in the natural sense. They were
great to me. They were so good to me. They
never forsook me for a moment. But they're both dead now, and
in that sense, I'm forsaken. You understand what I mean? I'm
on my own now. Nothing else they can do for
me. I'm forsaken. It's only when I realized I was
forsaken that the second half of that verse began to have some
meaning for me. When my mother and father forsook
me, then the Lord will take me up. It's sweet to come to the
point where you know you need the Lord to take you up. It's tough to go through that
dark valley, but if that's the way you have to go to get into
his marvelous light, then that's the way to go. Secondly, in the light of death,
there is no earthly comfort. There just was no comfort. I
suppose a mother and her son, or sometimes a father and his
daughter, there's just no comfort. In the light of death, there
is no comfort. But I'll tell you what, in the light of Christ,
he's the only comfort. He's the only comfort. It's good
that I've learned that. And then, let me show you something. Our mother was a serious pack
rat. She kept every piece of correspondence that I think she
ever got from 1938. I have been through boxes and
boxes and boxes of correspondence. Do you know that the members
of 13th Street Baptist Church probably were her most faithful
correspondents? She lived about a hundred miles
from me, and I should confess to you, I don't know whether
my mother knew the Lord Jesus Christ or not. I don't know.
She never bucked up and rebelled about it. She listened to Henry's
tapes and read a lot of things. She would come to church with
me when I was in Lexington to Todd Nibbert's, but she went
to her Methodist church the rest of the time. You know, I just
got to leave it at that. I just don't know. But I know
this. I know some folks were faithful
and corresponding to her and writing to her. This is a card. I sent you this card because
I like you. But then doesn't everybody? And
you know, many know who that signature is. Any of you ever
get a card from Charlie Payne? Well, Charlie sent my mother
card after card after card. And it would always have a scripture
verse in it, and it would always be pointing at Christ. I know
why Charlie did it. You know why Charlie did it?
The same reason so many others did it. They knew how I felt
about it. They were doing it for my sake.
That's a marvelous thing. It's a marvelous thing that somebody
loved me that much. I stand amazed in the presence
of my Lord that he would lay that on the hearts of my brothers
and sisters. Brother Charlie sent my mother
more correspondence than my sister did, or my oldest brother, about
five to one. Our Lord does marvelous things,
folks. And let me conclude with this. If we can't bow to the will of
God, and confess that his way is more marvelous than the way
we think it ought to be? Do we have any right to claim
the most marvelous works of our Lord Jesus Christ? Redemption? May God give us the grace in
trouble and trial to give a good testimony. And you all know what
this is all about. You all know what this is all
about. I have never in my life been so low as I was at that
time. I didn't think that Becky was
going to live, and I was having a hard time. I'm telling you,
I'm admitting to you, it were dark days. I was having such
a hard time reconciling, reconciling what God Almighty appeared to
be doing with what I wanted. And I'll tell you what turned
it around. If you want to know what changed
the whole situation, it was in my darkest hour. I was weeping in the arms of
my wife, and she said this. She said, Bob, it is good for
me that I have been afflicted. Let me tell you, if it was good
for her, boy, I had no right, no right. It ought to have been
good for me too. And that's the point at which
you've got to come to realize that I was looking within. And it's all darkness in there.
It's all darkness in there. Even in the born again, it's
just too much darkness in there now. And we need to look to Him. And as soon as Becky quoted the
Word, the light came on. You understand? The light came
on. And the Scripture that we got, we got to have the Scripture
to start reading. And you know what verse, let
me show you the verse. It makes it all alright. If you
want to look it up later, it's in Psalm 118, but it says, This
is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. And I tell you what, I don't
know how it's going to end yet. I really don't. It appears that
the Lord has miraculously dealt with Becky and is making her
well and whatever, for which I'll be grateful. But listen,
it's going to be all right. It's going to be all right. Because
whatever He does is marvelous, and we must bow to His will.
This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.
And may He give us the grace, day by day, You know, it's one thing to talk
about the gospel. It's another to live it. It's
another to live it. And these things are going to
come our way. Trials are going to come our way. I know they
will. And it's just by His grace that we don't all go to pieces
and whatever. Because He's the only thing to
keep us together. It's His grace, His comfort. Christ is marvelous,
though. He's marvelous. If you've got
to go through this to find that out, Well, it's good that I've
been afflicted. Let's close the service in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we are eternally
grateful to Thee for Your marvelous works of redemption. Lord, we're
grateful to You for Your marvelous work day by day, and we pray
that You might continue to do for us, Lord, we are a needy
people. We pray for Paul, Lord, that
you might ease his discomfort and, Lord, raise him up. Your people miss your pastor.
Lord, we're grateful for the testimony of this church, for
the gospel that's preached here. Make it like a lighthouse on
the top of a mountain and shine forth the brilliance of your
Son. Lord, forgive us for our sins and be merciful to us for
Christ's sake. Amen.