Now turn with me in your Bibles
to Psalm 9. The 9th Psalm. Now as we make our way out tonight
to the service, I have a vital message from God. in Matthew
6 on Christ our treasure. And you can read that this evening
in preparation for tonight. Matthew 6, verses 19 through
21, where our Lord speaks of treasures on earth and treasures
in heaven and what it is to lay these things up. Psalm 9, I want you to read one
Just a part of one verse with me. Psalm 9, look at verse 10,
the first half of verse 10 with me. And they that know thy name will
put their trust in thee. They that know thy name will
put their trust in thee. The name of the Lord, the name of the Most High, Holy
God, is upon the lips, upon the signs
and billboards and walls of this generation. And the name, that name which
is above every name, the name which we read in Isaiah, which
is to be exalted, is being used very irreverently,
very carelessly, very flippantly, very blasphemously in our generation. Men and women, boys and girls,
in sin and ignorance, blaspheme and take in vain the name of
our great God. And I'll say with the Apostle
Paul, as he said in another place, don't let it be named once among
you as becometh saints. I say to you young people, You
school age children. You hear your children, you hear
your classmates and your friends use the name of God. It's common
by word today, isn't it? Oh, God. You hear them use that
name. Don't you dare do it yourself. Don't you dare. Never let that holy and reverent
name pass from these lips unless it be in awe and reverence and
praise and thanksgiving. The third commandment from God
Almighty is, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God
in vain, for the Lord thy God will not hold him guiltless who
taketh his name in vain. God is very jealous about his
name. Did you know that, Hannah? God
is very jealous about his name. His name is to be exalted. Don't ever use it except in praise
and in reverence. But I know this is the only way
God's people use his name. I know that. Because our text
says they that know his name put their trust in that name.
and use it reverently. They put their trust in that
name. Listen to this verse of Scripture in Proverbs 18. The
name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous runneth
into it and is safe. The name of the Lord is a strong
tower and the righteous runneth into it and safe, or use it and
are safe. I'm reminded of this hurricane
that recently came through. What if there was a place to
go? Have you ever seen these lighthouses
on the shore of coastal regions, these great tall lighthouses? They're strong towers. I've never
heard of one of those blowing down in a hurricane or a fierce
wind or storm. Have you? That ought to be the
place somebody would go to. But the name of the Lord is a
strong tower in the midst of trouble and affliction and sorrow
and heartache. And the righteous, those that
know this name, and you're going to learn about it here in a minute,
those that know this name run to that name. They don't damn
it or use it to curse with or use it as a common byword. They
use it as a comfort, as an encouragement and in praise and worship. Everybody
calls on the name of God when they start getting in trouble,
don't they? I was watching the news and watching these various
people. After the hurricane came through, one woman was particularly
distraught, just beside herself with grief and so forth, because
she'd done without food or something for like three or four days. That's bad, I know, and you lose
your home is bad, I know, but there are people in Ethiopia
that have been starving for years. There are people who have been
homeless in this very country for years. But these people in
our country are mostly spoiled. But she was calling on God, oh
God, oh God, that's not the time to use that name. God won't hear
it. Isn't that what he said in Proverbs
1? He said, You'll call unto me one day. He said, I've called
time and time again, and you've refused me. He said, You'll call
on me one day in a day of calamity and terrible, horrible distress
and calamity. He said, I'll not hear you. I'll
not hear you. That's not the time to call on
the name of God. It's the time of prosperity.
It's every day to call on the name of God. It's every day to
trust in the name of God. I want you to turn with me to
Exodus chapter 34. Exodus chapter 34, and I want
you to consider with me the name of the Lord, what it means. Exodus
chapter 34. Actually, we'll begin in chapter
33. Do you have a Bible? I hope so. Exodus 33, beginning in verse
19. God is speaking to Moses here,
and God promised in verse 19 to make his goodness pass before
Moses. He said, I will make all my goodness
pass before thee, and he promised this, verse 19, and I will proclaim
the name of the Lord before thee, the name of the Lord. And that's what I intend to do
this morning, is relate to you what God related to Moses. All
right, now look at verse 1 of chapter 34 with me. And the Lord
said unto Moses, Hew the two tables of stone like unto the
first. Now, you young people, do you
remember? Do you remember, Stephen? Do
you remember when Moses, when God wrote the first two tables
of stone? Do you remember what happened
to them? Do you remember he came down from the mountain? And the
people were dancing around the calves, and they were committing
idolatry and so forth. And Moses, in anger, threw those
tables of stone and broke them. Broke them. Well, Moses went
back up to God. Do you remember when God said,
Step aside, Moses. I'm going to kill these people.
He should have consumed them, shouldn't he? He should have
consumed this ungrateful, wretched, vile people whom he had so miraculously
saved out of Egypt and done so much for them throughout the
wilderness. Shouldn't have done. He should have consumed them
right there. They had a mediator, though, Moses. But he should
have consumed them, even as God should consume us. It is of the
Lord's mercy, as the Scripture says, that we're not consumed.
They're new every morning. They must be. who sinned against
him from our youth. Why should God continue to have
mercy on us? Why should God write two more
tables, Terry? But he did. But he did. Moses came back up and the Lord
said, all right, we're going to make two more. That's mercy. Going to make two more. Two more. And deliver this word
to him again. Go tell John again. He broke
the law the first time, didn't he? Go tell him again. Isn't
that mercy? Verse 2. Now he said, I'll write
upon these tables and be ready in the morning. Verse 2. You
be ready in the morning. Be ready in the morning. Come
up in the morning unto Mount Sinai and present thyself there
to me in the top of the mountain. You know, Joe, we ought to be
ready in the morning. Got to wake up in the morning.
Be ready. Present ourselves to our God. Lord, here I am. Start the day
out. What do you do with me? Especially
this morning, we've come here, gathered here to worship. We
ought to wake up and prepare ourselves, present ourselves
before the Lord. Jenny, that's what we're doing
here. We're presenting ourselves before the Lord, aren't we? And
he said, be ready. John on the Isle of Patmos, he
said, I was in the spirits on the Lord's Day. In other words,
he was seeking God. He was seeking to know the will
of God. He fasted the whole time. He was seeking to know the will
of God and to worship and hear from God. What did he hear? What
did he hear? What did he see? My soul. Perhaps if we were in the spirit
on the Lord's Day, we'd hear and see some mighty things. And
we'd go away a blessed people. Moses did, didn't he? He got
ready. You reckon Moses woke up about 10 o'clock? Had him
a big ham and egg breakfast? He said, well, I'll get to it
in a minute. Oh, no. He got ready, didn't he? Prepared
his heart to worship. Verse 3, And no man shall come
up with thee. No man shall come up with thee,
neither let any man be seen throughout all the mountain. And this thing
of worship with God, don't consider your wife or anybody else. their predicament, whatever.
You're not going, I am. And when you get there, no man
is to be with thee. Get the preacher out of your
vision. Get the soul winner out of the way between you and God.
Lord, speak to me. Here I am. No man with me. Come in to worship God. Verse
4, And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first. And
Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto Mount Sinai
as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand two tables
of stone." You see the clear picture of
where we are right now. We've got in our hands a rock,
tables of stone, written with a pen of iron in a rock. The
Word of God is forever settled in heaven. You've got in your
hands Roberta's sword The Word of the Living God written with
the finger of God Almighty. You're no different than Moses
was standing on Mount Sinai. Is this serious or what? All right, now he said in verse
5, And the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him
there. Have you ever noticed that verse?
Have you, Barbara? The Lord descended in the cloud
and stood with him there. Who was that? I think maybe Christ
stood right beside Moses. He's the Word, isn't he? He's
the one who proclaims, God, no man knoweth the Father save the
Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. And stood with Moses
there, stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the
Lord. You know, the Lord said, where
two or three are gathered in my name. The Lord said that. Where
two or three are gathered in my name, I'll be there. I'll
descend. I'll condescend to be in their
midst. I'll be there. You believe that
the Lord is here with us right now? Standing right here. You know,
His holy angels are everywhere listening to this message. You
believe that? I'm not trying to get supernatural or mystical
here. I'm just telling you what this book says. The Lord's here. Terri, you remember when the
Lord wrestled with Jacob and he named, what did he name that
place after he left? Bethel. Why? He said the Lord
was in this place. And I didn't know it. He was
here, though. He was here. And he proclaimed
the name of the Lord. May he do it now. Now, verse
6, look at it. So the Lord passed by before
him. The Lord passed by before him. You know, he's done this from
the very beginning, from the very outset, since there was
a first man. When Adam sinned, the voice of
the Lord came walking in the garden, didn't it? And from that
Adam to this Adam, the Lord has passed by, Jerry. The Lord has
been passing by. We sing that little song, reach
out and touch the Lord as he passes by. He's passed by many
various different ways. Every time this word is preached,
the gospel is preached, the Lord is speaking. He's passing by.
He's passing by. The scripture says, call upon
the name of the Lord. Why? He's here. Some have. Some have. The leper did, didn't
he? The leopard did, Lord, if you
will. He saw the, if you will, you can make me whole. I will. He got to do his call. Blind
Bartimaeus did, didn't he? Who's that? What's all that commotion?
Jesus who's passing by. Jesus who? Jesus of Nazareth. That one! That son of David! Stop! He wasn't going to let
him go. Shut up. Hush, man. No! I'm blind. You're not blind. I need him.
And he cried all the louder, and the Lord of Glory stopped.
What's wrong? I want to see. There you go. Simon Peter did it, didn't he?
They were all affrighted. They saw what they thought was
a spirit walking on the water, and the Lord said, It's me. He
was passing by, made as though he would pass on by. Lord, bid
me come to thee on the water. It may be a foolish thing, but
he wanted to get to the Lord. The Lord said, Come up. He walked
a little ways. Saul of Tarsus did it, didn't
he? When the Lord shined that light upon him, he said, Lord,
he called on him, what will you have me to do? What will you
have me to do? So the Lord passed by and proclaimed his name. He preached. The Lord preached
to Moses. What was his subject? There's
only one. It's His glorious person and
His work, isn't it? There is no other message. The
Lord, look at it, verse 6, And the Lord passed by before Moses
and proclaimed, The Lord, Jehovah, or Yahweh, however you
want to pronounce it, The Lord. That means the self-existent,
eternal One. Now if I pass by you with a few
words here, His name is worthy, His character, His person, the
script that describes Him deserves every accolade and every adjective
and all the most glorious terms that can be used. This name Jehovah is expressive
of the very essence of God Almighty, eternal, self-existent. Listen
to this. His self-existence and independence. Jehovah is before all creatures,
independent of them, having no need of them. God doesn't need
us. That's the greatest lie and blasphemy
of this side of hell. God doesn't need us. We need
Him. He has no need of anything or
anyone. He is the being of all beings. All creatures have their being
from Him. He is the former, or creator
and maker of all things, which is, which was, and which is to
come. He is imminently the being. God is. He that cometh to God
must believe. What? That He is. He is. And all nations even, the Scripture
says, Isaiah 40, verse 7, all nations are before Him as nothing. less than nothing than it. That's his name, self-existent,
eternal, the I Am, the Lord, Jehovah. Look at verse six again. He proclaimed the Lord, the Lord
God. He repeats it in case we didn't
hear it the first time, the Lord, Jehovah, Jehovah Christ said
from the cross, Eli, Eli, or that is my God, my God, Jehovah
God, or God Almighty, the Lord God Almighty, of whom, through
whom, and to whom, and by whom, and in whom are all things. He hath most sovereign dominion
over everything and every one, to do by them, for them, and
upon them whatsoever himself pleases. And none can stay his
hand, and say unto him, What doest thou? No, he is God, and
he is all-powerful over all things. He is omnipotent. Learn the meaning
of that. That means all-powerful. He is
omniscient. Learn it. That means all-knowing. He is omnipresent. That means
He is everywhere right now, in your pew right now, in South Africa right now. All
things are naked and open for the eyes of Him with whom we
have to do. Not whether we want to or not,
have to. It's all as a looking glass to
God. Every man's heart, every young
person's heart and soul. He is all and in all. Every creature,
every creature from the mighty leviathan, that is the whale,
down to the tiniest insects, is in his mighty hands to do
with it as he pleases, and that means human beings. To crush
or exalt. To damn and condemn or to love
and save. He's God. That's what His name
means. El! He's God. The Lord God. Now look at this
though. I'm glad He went on, aren't you? I'm glad He went
on preaching, Terry. He didn't stop there. He went
on preaching. He said He proclaimed the Lord.
The Lord God merciful. Merciful. I'm so glad. How glad
I am that the I Am said that. How glad I am that the I Am said
that. You see, while the name of the
Lord God, Jehovah God Almighty, is a strong tower and the righteous
run into it, you'll not approach Him unless you hear Him say this
name. You can't get near Him. You can't
get near Him. God is consuming fire. God is
consuming fire. Now listen, God is holy. Above all, God is holy. God is
just. God is righteous. I don't get
tired of saying these things. This is part of His glory. I
don't fear wearing you out and making you tired and bored about
these same doctrinal truths, if you will, or glorious things.
This is God's glory. He's holy. He's just. He's righteous. I like the sound of that word.
Righteous. That's what Christ prayed, didn't
He? Oh, righteous Father. Holy. That's His glory. That's
what we're going to be singing about through eternity. He's
holy. That's what we long to have,
holiness. That's what this thing's all about, to be made holy. I
don't get tired of saying that, and I don't just use it to fill
up time. But God is holy, just, and righteous. He said the sun, the moon, and
the stars are not pure in His sight. How much less is man? How much more abominable and
filthy is man which drinketh iniquity like the water? Huh?
How is this God? And He says He hates all workers
of iniquity. Is that you, Margaret? Do you
do anything, any inequitous acts? Are you a sinner? He hateth our workers of Nazareth.
How in the world then? How in the world is He going
to have anything to do with us? How are we going to even utter His
holy name? You know, the people of old, the Israelites of old,
they wouldn't use the name Jehovah. It was too great. It was too
holy. They wouldn't use it. They'd use something else. They'd
use something else. How are we going to use that
name? Only when we hear this one. He said, but I'm merciful. I'm the Lord God. Consuming fire,
great and terrible and dreadful is my name. This is scripture.
And he says, but I'm merciful. And I'm merciful. I'm full of
mercy. I delight to show mercy. And
it endures forever. And once he's shown it, he never
quits showing it. Why not that? Don't you? Once God shows mercy, He never
quits showing it. And I need it every day. Every
day, full, full of mercy. Mercy pulls, never runs out.
Now listen, right here is where we must interject another name. All right? Are you with me? Gather
yourself. This is the heart of the gospel
right here. We're standing before the Lord.
We're sitting down before the Lord. There are tables of stone
in our lap. God's talking. He's proclaiming
His name, the Lord. Some of us, I don't think some
of us have ever heard that name. I really don't. The Lord God, merciful. Now, before we can go any further,
we've got to interject another name. Because the holy, sovereign,
just, and righteous God is only merciful to those who know another
name. He's not merciful except through
one name. Anybody know what that name might
be? Huh? Huh? Somebody say, how dare
you? It's another name! Jesus Christ! That's right! You
know where the mercy of God is found, the grace of God is found?
God is not merciful except through whom? Jesus Christ. He's a consuming
fire. He's holy, righteous, and just,
who will by no means clear the guilty except those in Christ. Another name, the Lord Jesus
Christ. There is no sparing. Mercy means
to spare the guilty. He will not spare one sinner. He will not spare them. There's
no mercy for guilty sinners unless God spared not His only Son. There's no forgiving of iniquity
unless God laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Right? Because justice was served upon
His Son. Full justice, a full cup of God's
wrath. Therefore, mercy in its fullness
is served up on me. Verse 6, the Lord God merciful
and gracious. How? In the Lord Jesus Christ. Gracious. Have you tasted and
seen that the Lord is gracious? Have you? How's the Lord? Let
me ask you a personal question. Everybody in here, ask yourself
this. Has the Lord been gracious to you? Huh? The word gracious means giving.
He gives you things. He keeps giving. Giving and getting
gracious in the present. How gracious has the Lord been
to you? Huh? Charles Ross. My, that's something. Virgie Jones, you're way past
your days. Three score and ten are gone.
Four score are gone. Has the Lord been gracious to
you? One of our ladies said something
about that, how the Lord had been gracious to her at work,
and one of the ladies she worked with said, he ain't done nothing
for me. Well, I'm here to tell you this
morning, the Lord's done everything for me. By the grace of God,
I am what I am. I have what I have. I know what
I know. I can do what I can do. I am
where I am by the grace of God, 100 percent by the grace of God
Almighty through the Lord Jesus Christ. I am what I am and have
what I have. By the grace of God, I'm not
a heathen dancing around a pole in Africa. I'm sitting clothed
in my right mind, worshiping the living God. By the grace
of God Almighty. And everything I have, every
good and perfect gift, comes from above. He's done everything for me.
What about you? By his grace, we're saved. And that unspeakable gift Unthinkable. That's the reason we can't express
it. That's the reason we can't feel it like we should. Because
eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither have entered into
our hearts like it should the things that God has done for
his people in Christ. So great salvation one day we'll
see as we, as it is. And that's the reason we're going
to praise him throughout eternity. We're going to know even as we've
been known. We're going to see the hand of God throughout our
life, from the cradle to the grave, and we're going to praise
him for it. We're going to sing grace then like we ought to sing
it now. But we don't. And someday we're going to sing
grace. I never knew it. I just never knew like I should. How good you've been to me. What
all you've done for me. You've done, you did everything
for me. And I took it to my own credit, my own honor, my own
praise and glory. How did I not acknowledge you?
Forgive me, Lord. Praise be unto your grace. And
for that unspeakable gift. the gift of His Son, that gift
which no mortal man deserves, for God's Son, His Holy Son,
to walk this planet and even speak. What is man that is not
mindful of Him? And the Son of Man, that He should
visit Him, that the Holy One of Glory should walk this planet
and be identified with such wiggling maggots as we are. That's grace,
isn't it? Grace, my soul, if I could preach
it and sing it like it ought to be sung. Oh, I'd like to one time, just
one time, thanks be unto God for His unspeakable. It's unspeakable. It's unpreachable. Grace is gift. Salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 6, and he said, look at this. Boy, I like this name.
God kept preaching. Are you still with the preacher?
God's preaching. The Lord God merciful and gracious
Long-suffering. He said, I want you to know me
by name. Deborah Huff, God wants you to know Him by name. And
He said, here's my name. Long-suffering. Long-suffering. Christ turned
to those disciples. You know how those boys I think this is the context. No, it was when the waves were
crashing and so forth, I believe. At any rate, the Lord had done
many wonderful works in their sight, and he had provided for
them all of their days. He said to him one time, while
I was yet with you, I told you not to take script, money, or
purse, or an extra suit of clothes, or whatever. Did you like anything?
Did you miss anything? Did you ever miss a meal, John,
James, Bartholomew, did you? Matthew, did you ever miss a
meal? Nothing, Lord. We didn't miss a thing. We never
missed a meal, Lord. We have you to owe. We owe you
for it. You ever miss a meal, John Davis?
Charles Hudson? Huh? Well, he's yet with you,
huh? Well, the Lord turns to him one
time after they got all upset and torn up about something.
He said, Oh, you little faith, don't you remember? Do you not
yet remember yesterday? Oh, you little faith, how long
must I bear with you? How long must I put up with you,
you ungrateful child, you forgetful child? How long? Huh? Well, if you're like me, you
have to say with the disciples, forever! That's how long? Long
time! All the days of my life. And
he said, OK, that's my name. Long suffering. He suffered long.
How long? As long as you're on this earth.
Until he lays down that body of death and you're conformed
to the perfect image of Christ and are in his very presence.
That's how long he's going to put up with you. Why? Why? Why? Why? First glory. First glory. That's what his
name is. That's what his name is. He's
got his name on the dotted line. Merciful, gracious, long-suffering.
Look at this. Verse 6. Abundant in goodness.
Abundant in goodness and truth. says four times, Oh, that men
would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful
works to the children of men. It says it four times, doesn't
it? Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children
of men. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and
for His wonderful works to the children of men. Oh, that men
would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful
works to the children of men. Four times. Oh, that men would
praise the Lord for His goodness. He's good. Oh, taste and see,
the scripture says, that the Lord is what? Good. Good and
blessed is the man that trusteth in him. Fear the Lord, ye his
saints. There's no want to them that
fear him. You know that. The Lord is your shepherd. You
shall not want. You haven't? You won't. The young lions out
in the jungle, they do lack, but they that seek the Lord shall
not want any good thing. You'll never lack. He'll never lack for any good
thing. Has the Lord been good to you?
Huh? Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for His goodness. Oh, that I would, like He deserves
to be. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
all that is within me. Bless His holy name. Bless the
Lord, O my soul. Don't forget all His benefits.
He forgives all your iniquities. If that isn't enough, He heals
all your diseases. If that isn't enough, He redeems
your life from destruction. If that isn't enough, He crowneth
thee with love and kindness and tender mercies, who satisfieth
thy mouth with good things." Good things. Has the Lord been
good to you? That's His name. He says, I'm
abundant in goodness and truth, truth, abundant in truth. I like
that word, too. That's his name, John. Just don't
ever make light of God's truth. Christ said I am the truth, didn't
he? Let God be true. He's abundant in truth. Let God
be true and every man a liar. You know that only God Almighty
can be trusted. We ought to trust God and not
anybody else. But generally, it's the other
way around. Yeah, it is. We put our trust in horses and
chariots. Some of you got some pretty rough
horses and chariots, so you don't put much trust in broken down
chariots. But nevertheless, we lean upon
the arm of the flesh and we don't trust God. We got it backwards.
No, God's the only one that can be trusted. Only one. He alone is true, and all he
says and does is true. True and right. Whatever he says
is true, and it can be trusted. That's the reason I tell you,
don't put your trust in me. Don't listen to me unless what
I say is according to this Word. But what he says is true, and
it can be trusted. Whatever he does is right, just,
and true. He's true to his Word. How I
wish, how I wish I trusted God's Word. How I wish I could read
God's Word and say, well, that's what it says. That's what I'm
going to do. I'm going to trust God for once
in my entire life. Wouldn't you like to say that?
Just once. God is true to His Word. I'm
not. You're not. God is true to His
holiness, true to His promises. When God makes a promise, He
never takes it back. Never. He's true to His people. Henry, I may not be a faithful
and true friend, buddy. I may leave you tomorrow. Oh,
better men than me, many better men than me have cut on out. There's a friend that sticketh
closer than a brother. He's a true one. He's a just
one. He said, I'll never leave you.
You may leave me, but I'll never leave you. Listen to this verse. Trust
in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding. We don't do that, do we? What
do we do when we set out on some venture? We want a job. We want
to do this. We want to do that. We generally start thinking about,
well, should I do this or should I do that? Our own understanding,
our own strength, do I have the means? Instead of going to God
first, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not
to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,
and he will direct thy path." See, there's a way, there's a path
that I think is right, and I generally want to walk it. And the Lord
may allow me to do so, and I may fall in a ditch. He picked me
right back up, but it'll be painful. Whereas if I'd have consulted
him to begin with, acknowledge him, Lord, you're the Lord. Should
I? Go, I'll be with you. I don't believe the Lord leaves
his children in doubt concerning his will. I know he doesn't.
Seek me with all your heart, you'll be found of. Ask, you'll
receive. Knock, it'll be open. Now, is
that a promise from God who cannot lie? Sure it is. Lord, I'm not
going to move. If you're not going up with me,
carry me not up thence. I don't want to go. I don't want
to go. Look at verse 7. Oh, I like this. I hope somebody in here is with
me this morning. Verse 7. I hope there's a Moses
with the stones in his lap listening to the Lord speak. First, seven. Keeping mercy for thousands,
thousands, you know, Terry, when the Lord uses numerical terms,
it's an it represents an infinite value. Thousands upon thousands
upon ten thousands of thousands, the Lord keeps mercy for thousands. Let me give you an example, this
is like one center. One center receiving mercy is
like a bird. Flying down, you take a bird
flying down out of a tree and going down to the beach, the
ocean, and picking up one grain of sand and flying off to his
little house with it. Is there going to be any left?
Is there enough for me? Is there going to be enough sand
to go around? One bird grabbing one little
sand. Or what about, this is like a man going up to the ocean
and he's got a thimble. And you're going to give him
a little scoop of water, and he goes home with it. Well, I
hope it doesn't run out. I'm next in line. I'm hundredth
in line. I'm on the way on down the line. Will it be there when
I get there? Keeping mercy for thousands.
Thousands. One thing, did you notice that
word, keeping? He said he's got it reserved for his people. Before
the foundation of the world, he has some people's names written
on a package called mercy. And it's a whole ocean. You've
got a whole ocean with your name on it. Not just a little spare in your
little cup full. Full. Mercy full. It's got your
name on it, if you're a child of God. Do you need it? I need
mercy 24 hours a day, 25 hours a day. When I wake up in the
morning, such ungodless, sinful, wretched thoughts fly through
my mind, I think, manner of man am I? I can't even wait for one
waking moment with decent thoughts. His mercy is new every morning.
Thank God. Thank God. Thank God. Keep in mercy. He keeps it going,
keeps it flowing. The fountain never runs dry.
You need it right now? Just take a draft. Take a drink.
Come by on the house. on God, keeping mercy. And he says here, you know, her
keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression
and sin, forgiving iniquity, transgressions and sin. And I've
said this before. How can God forgive iniquity?
He who is too purized to look upon iniquity. And he says in
his word, you'll not come out until you've paid the uttermost
pardon to my justice. How can he forgive iniquity? How can he? Because Jesus Christ
was full of equity, full of holiness, righteousness, and justice. And
the scripture says he emptied himself. that we might be full,
and of his fullness have all we receive." We were empty. He
was full. He emptied himself. He took our
emptiness. He became empty. He imputed that
equity—that's another word for righteousness—to us, imputed
it to us, charged it to our account, charged it to our account. Think
about this. Visiting the iniquity of the
Father's—no, I'm sorry, verse 7. The iniquity, forgiving iniquity
and transgression and transgression. That's another word for trespassing.
Have you ever thought about it this way? Trespassers? Do you
know we're trespassing on God's property? I was out with Brother
Rick one time posting signs all over his property. He didn't
want anybody hunting on his property. Don't blame him. But the only
kind of sign they sell, you know, is no trespassing. Well, do you
know we're trespassing on God Almighty's property? Yeah, we
are. If we don't know it, sons are
allowed to go and come as they please. Go in and out and find
pasture. Children are allowed to go and
come as they please. But if we know not Christ, if we're enemies
of God, we're trespassing. We deserve to be shot on sight. And we do. God's private property. We're
destroying it. We're raping it. We plummeted
it. We pillaged it for ourselves, haven't we? His earth, his law,
his mercy. His goodness, His grace, we just
take, take, take, by nature, without so much as giving God
a thought. Can you imagine? Well, somebody came in on your
property one day and said, well, I'll take your car, I'll take this,
I'll take that, and I'll take all the food I can eat, and I'll
take your house, and I'll do all this, and you know there's
anything about it. Isn't that what mankind does by nature? God says, I forgive some people
their trespasses. I forgive them. Hold it there! Trespasser, what are you doing
here? Who goeth thou? What's your name? Speak now,
for I have behold your face. What are you doing? What's your
name? I'm Jesus Christ. I plead Christ. Come on. Come on in. Come on
in. Why? Come on in. Son, daughter, and
our sin. Forgive us our sin. He says,
I forgive sin. Not sins. Sin. Sins is what I am. That's what I was talking about
a while ago. When I wake up, I didn't consciously, premeditatedly,
willfully wake up and think, I'm going to thank evil God.
I didn't do that. I woke up sinning. Why? I am
sinning. My sin is ever before me. My nature, my person is ever
before me. God says, I forgive it. How? How? God made Christ to be sin
for us, and who knows Him, that we might be made righteous in
Him. That's how it is. Thanks be unto God for that name.
All right, go on, and I'll quit. And it says he'll by no means
clear the guilty. Now, God Almighty, thanks be unto
God for His name. Lord God, merciful, gracious,
long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy, forgiving
iniquity, transgression, sin. But don't ever forget this. He
will by no means clear the guilty. He emphasizes this, doesn't he?
He ends it all up by saying this. Don't forget that. I will by
no means clear the guilty. That's the reason we must have
the blood and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ right
now. Yeah, right. Right now. Applied to our account. God will
by no means clear the guilt. God is not love first. He's holy
first. He's a just God, the scripture
says. But only after he's just is he
a savior. The gospel is at stake right
there in those few words. The gospel. He will by no means
clear the guilty. Every sin must be punished or
God would not be God and done. He's a just God. It says he visits
the iniquity of fathers upon the children. And I'll close
with this. Turn over to Exodus chapter 20
with me. Does that verse of Scripture
give you a hard time visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon
the children of the third and fourth generation. Does it? Does it trouble you? Do you know
what that means? Well, Exodus chapter 20 is the
first time he mentioned this, and he goes into more detail
with it. The first time Moses stood before him, the Lord explained
this. Okay? And he didn't repeat it
all the second time. Well, here in Exodus chapter
20, Verse five, the iniquity, you notice that he didn't say
iniquities, he said the iniquity. All right, Exodus 20, verse five,
he says, thou shalt not bow down thyself to serve them, or that
is false gods, nor serve them. For I, the Lord thy God, am a
jealous God visiting thee, or that iniquity of the fathers
upon the children. unto the third and fourth generation
of them that," now here's a key word, hate me, that hate me. Verse six, he says,
I show mercy unto thousands of them that love me. But the iniquity
is idolatry. The iniquity is serving and worshiping
and believing other gods than this. The iniquity is idolatry
and unbelief. Them that hate me unto the third
and fourth generations." Now, most children believe what their
parents believe. This is just what he's saying
here. Most children believe what you believe. They'll grow up
believing and listening to what you instill in them, won't they,
Mark? That's just common knowledge. Oh, that they were wise. Oh,
that we would instruct our children in these things. In these things. Teach your children the name
of the Lord while there's time, while there's hope. The name
of the Lord. Because they that know thy name
will put their trust in thee. Nowhere else. Nowhere else. And there's another verse of
scripture that I can say from all my heart. I've not shunned
to declare thy name unto my brethren this morning. I've declared the
name of the Lord to you people. Do you know it? They that know
thy name will put thy trust in thee. He's a strong tower. It's comfort. His name is comfort. Did you get comfort from all
that? Not only is he glorious, the Lord God Jehovah Almighty,
God Almighty. It's glorious, but it's in mercy,
grace, long-suffering. It's a terror to unbelievers,
but it's a joy and a comfort to believers. Run into it. Run
into it. Trust it. All right, what was
that verse, or what was that song? Verse thirty, number thirty-two.
Hymn number thirty-two. Hymn number thirty-two. Russell Joe,
will you come up and lead us? two verses of him number thirty
two and close. Him number thirty two blessed
be that name.