Lamentations chapter 3. Read with me the first 19 verses
here. Lamentations 3 verse 1. I am. the man that hath seen affliction by
the rod of his or God's wrath. He hath led me and brought me
into darkness, not into light. Surely against me is he turned. He turneth his hand against me
all the day. My flesh and my skin hath he
made old. He hath broken my bones. He hath
builded against me and compassed me with gall and travail. He hath set me in dark places
as they that be dead of old. He hath hedged me about that
I cannot get out. He hath made my chain heavy. Also when I cry and shout, he
shutteth out my prayer. He hath enclosed my ways with
hewn stone. He hath made my paths crooked. He was unto me as a bear lying
in wait and as a lion in secret places. He hath turned aside
my way, pulled me in pieces. He hath made me desolate. He hath bent his bow and set
me as a mark for the arrow. He hath caused the arrows of
his quiver to enter into my reins. I was a derision to all my people,
and their song all the day. He hath filled me with bitterness,
he hath made me drunken with wormwood. He hath also broken
my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes,
and thou hast removed my soul far off from peace." I forgot
prosperity. And I said, my strength and my
hope is perished from the Lord, remembering my affliction and
my misery, the wormwood and the gall. Do you know who this is speaking
of here? Now, the earthly writer is a
man named Jeremiah. Yet, Peter said no prophecy of
the scripture is of any private interpretation. But the prophecy
came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And Jeremiah here is not
talking about himself. God Almighty would not reserve
such a space in his holy word for a mere mortal man to vent
his anxiety and to tell about his pitiable condition. No, this is like all other scripture. This speaks of the man, Christ
Jesus, the man, the only true man worth speaking about, the man, the God-man, the Lord
Jesus Christ. These are the very words of Jesus
Christ from the cross. and perhaps even from the grave
itself. Now let's look at it again a
little more closely, now that you know who this is speaking
of. Look at verse one again. He says, I am the man. I like the sound of that. Pilate said it one day, and he
did not realize what he had said, but he said it nonetheless, moved
by God. He said when Jesus Christ was
standing before him one day, he said to everybody there, he
said, Behold the man. Greater words could never have
been uttered. The only true man. Peter said it on the day of Pentecost,
didn't he? He said, you men of Israel, hear
these words. It's never been heard before.
It'll never be heard again. Jesus of Nazareth, the man approved
of God. The only real man that ever lived. Adam was an imposter. Adam rebelled
against God, his Creator. Not the second Adam, not the
second man. Oh, he said, I delight to do
thy will, O God. He said, I must be about my Father's
business. And man, the way God intends
for man to be, lives for the glory of God, loves God with
all his heart, mind, soul, and strength. has no other God before
him. On the contrary, has his affection,
his heart, his mind, his life set on God and God alone. No man can say that but the man. Christ says, I'm the man, the only man God approves of. God said it from heaven twice,
didn't he? This is my son, son of man, in
whom I am Well, please, you all better hear it. The only way
you're going to get to me is through this man. The only way
you're going to speak to God is through this man. The only
way you're going to stand in the presence of this holy God
is if this man does something for you men, which are not men,
but are worms. And he says this, listen to these
words, he said, I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. God's wrath. I've seen affliction. Now, the scripture says, Henry,
that our light affliction, which is but for a moment He said, Christ said, I am the
man that has seen affliction under the wrath, the rod of God
Almighty's wrath. Nobody's seen affliction like
Christ did. Nobody ever will see affliction. He said, behold
my sorrow, and see if there's any like it, wherewith the Lord
doth afflict me. the world, and we by nature look
at this story of this man Jesus the Christ hanging on a cross
and men doing all of these terrible things to him. And we think what
a terrible thing that men did to him. And it was a terrible
thing. But men did what God determined before to be done. God is the
one that turned him over to men to do what his counsel and foreknowledge
and forepurpose had determined before the foundation of the
world to be done, and for a reason. For a reason. This wasn't just
some poor martyr dying a religious martyr's death for no apparent
reason. This has a divine, eternal purpose,
and the consequences of this are eternal, far-reaching, infinite. As I said, time is centered around
this event. The universe revolves around
this place, a little tiny hill over in Jerusalem one day called
Golgotha, place of the skull. He says, I've seen the rod of
God's wrath. Verse 2, He led me. He hath led
me. God sent Christ. God was in Christ. God sent his Son into the world
that a people, a world of people might be saved. God sent him. God led him. God brought me,
he says, into darkness, into a dark world, a world of sin
and ignorance and blindness and religious superstition, a world
of men and women who did not know God. Even though light came
into the world, men were lovers of darkness rather than light,
and they said, We don't like the light. Turn it off. And they
attempted to, didn't they? But no, God shone that light,
shined that light. Thank God he shined it in some
of our hearts to reveal the glory, his glory of God, in the face
of the crowd. But God sent him into this dark
world, not into light. God didn't leave him in heaven,
he sent him to earth. Verse 3, and this is why. This is why. Verse 3. Surely against me is God turned. He turneth his hand against me
all the day, all my life." Now, for thirty-three and a third
years, God was nothing but well pleased with his son. well pleased with his son. Thirty-three
and a third year, pleased with Christ, but one day, one day,
the Lord God of heaven turned on
his son, turned on him. This is a mystery. And I defy
any mortal man to try to explain this mystery. Martin Luther,
one time, is sitting down and pondering that verse in Matthew
27. My God, my God, why? That's thou forsaken me. Martin
Luther pondered that for hours. And he got up and threw his hands
in the air in disgust and said, I can't understand it. No man
can figure it out. God, forsaken God. Why? How? Wherefore? But God turned on his Son, his
only begotten, well-beloved Son, turned on him. And he called
himself like a bear, verse 10, like a bear he was, and like
a lion in secret places. He turned on me. His hand was
against me. He turned him over. One day God
turned His Son over to men. And as I said before, this evil
and adulterous generation says, what will you do with Jesus?
Well, let me tell you something. God did turn His Son over to
men one day. They did exactly what He determined
to do, but they did what they willfully wanted to do. But God
turned His Son over to men, and they killed Him, spit in His
face, and just brutally murdered and tortured Him. He's not in men's hands anymore.
He's not up for acceptance anymore. God doesn't turn His men. It's
not what will you do with Jesus anymore. Men did with Jesus what
they wanted to do with Jesus, but not anymore. No, things turned
around now. Tables turned now. We're in His
hands to do with as He pleases. But God only turned Him over
the first time because He had a divine purpose And a blessed
one at that. Oh, he wasn't blessed to Christ.
Oh, the end result and all, he said, look for the joy that was
set before him. He endured to cross. And none
of us in here have any the slightest inkling of understanding of what
this cross was. You see these pictures people
have on their walls of some poor, miserable, Caucasian fellow with
blue eyes, you know, with a trickle of blood here and there running
down his running down his face, and he's got a little loincloth
on. He looks reasonably good to be going through what he's
going through. But that doesn't depict this day and this scene. Isaiah 52 says, His visage was
marred more than any man. He'd been beaten for hours, plucked out his beard by the
handful. Eyes were swollen shut as slits.
A crown of thorns shoved on his head, not placed gently, blood
in his eyes, in his ears, in his mouth, his face swollen to
a bloody mass, his back raw and open wounds, his bones hanging
out, hanging there naked. You going to put that on your
wall? He said His form, not only His
visage, but His form more than the sons of man that took, put
that cross down in the grave, it was ever joint, His body was
dislocated. And it's a mockery and it's blasphemy
to talk about this thing and have it hanging on your wall
and anything less than ignominy and the most heinous death ever
to be suffered by a man. Take away the glory of Christ
in suffering more than any man when you don't depict him as
he was. So don't hang anything on your
wall. Don't hang a picture anywhere, unless you want to hang it like
it was. He said, Behold and see. God turned on him. Why? Turned
on his son, his only begotten well-beloved son. Why? You don't
think for a minute that God would let mere mortal men do this to
his lovely son without a reason, do you? That's pretty much what they're
saying today. They say he tried. And he failed and he can't save
you unless you let him. Oh, isn't that blasphemy to the
wisdom of God? Isn't that blasphemy to the love
of God for his Son? Why would he make his Son suffer
like that if it wasn't for a purpose and a successful one at that? Surely against me is God turned,
he said. Turned his hand against me all
the day. My flesh, my skin, he made old. Christ was a seventy-year-old
looking man at the age of thirty-three. Because, he says, he was from
the cradle to the grave, he was a man of sorrows, acquainted
with grief. Why? Do we know why? Your understanding of this, my
understanding of this, the reason behind this determines whether
or not we know God or not, whether or not we're going to be saved
or not. Not to just pity someone, oh, I'm sorry, won't you accept
Jesus? Oh, sure, I'm sorry for anybody doing something like
that. No, there's a purpose behind it. A purpose. He says, God turned aside my
ways. Turned aside my ways. What were
the ways of Christ? How did this man live? The Scripture
says God can't punish a righteous man. The Scripture says He cannot
turn away a righteous man. He cannot forsake a righteous
man. God is righteous. God loves righteous things. He
cannot punish a righteous man. He has to reward a righteous
man for his righteousness. Christ lived a perfect life,
all of his life—thoughts, words, deeds—perfect righteousness to
the glory of God, for the good of the people. But it says God turned aside,
turned His head from that, did not reward him for that, but
rather turned on him. Fine. Made me desolate. Verse 12, look
at this, "...bent his bow." The bow of God's wrath. The Scripture
talks about God when God bends His bow. The bow of divine wrath
God someday is going to bend. And nobody can bend it but God.
We've seen it a little bit here and there. But someday God, that
almighty, sovereign, eternal bow of His wrath is going to
be bent. with a strong arm of his law, his will, his wrath,
and aim it. He says someday it's going to
be aimed at the world, and the size of that arrow of his wrath,
the quiver full of his wrath, is going to consume this planet
and everybody in it. And it says one day God took
that and aimed it at his Son. And pulled it back all the way,
all the way, the wrath of God. And let her fly. Pierced his soul. He says, verse 13, he calls the
arrows of his quiver to enter my reins, the wrath of God. You see, this is about this,
this, this awful thing here, you can't depict the worst part
about this. The physical sufferings were
just part of what went on at Calvary, the worst thing of all. And we'll never understand this
until someday when we see people weeping and wailing and gnashing
their teeth in eternal agony. hope to God, it's not me and
not you. They will know then. But Christ
suffered this condemnation and separation and wrath of God Almighty. His soul was made an offering
for sin, not just his body. His soul, the soul that sinneth
most surely will die. We can't enter into that. We
haven't died. We haven't seeing what soul death
is. The only place we can really
see there's something that is right here and we look at and
listen a little bit. God give us ears and eyes to
see what went on here. God bent his bow and set his
mark, his sights on him and let it fly. It says in verse 14, these are
the very things that happened on the cross. We just read it
in Matthew 27, didn't we? He said, I was a derision to
all my people. He said, I came, he came unto
his own, the Jews. He was a Jew. Oh, the Jews of
all people should have been thanking and praising God to high heaven.
Why us? Why this puny little land over
here? What in the world? Why in the world? Would God Almighty
send His Son into such a little perverted land as this, a no
place, on the backside of the desert? Why on earth? They ought
to be the Jews. What advantage then has the Jews,
Paul said? Everywhere. The promises, the
oracles, the Word was submitted unto them. But my people, he
said, came unto his own with his own
As a matter of fact, they rejected him. And not only the Jews, but
oh, we, we did despise him. The Gentiles also. Paul said
this is even a greater mystery thing, that God took this gospel
and sent it to the Gentiles. Dogs, walrus. The Jews were a
relatively religious people, you know, somewhat upright and
moral in their conduct and so forth. But Gentiles, Romans,
pagans, Greeks. Sacrificing to idols and writhing
in orgies and all of this sort of thing. America, the beautiful? Oh no, this is America, the ugly,
the wicked. But God sent his gospel here,
and what do men do with it? A derision to all. Thank God not everybody. He's
a derision to all natural men. Thank God. Some people turn like
that thief on the cross. You remember there's two of them
hanging, one on each side of him, and he says they both cast the
same in his teeth. Just like every person in here,
before God dealt with you, if he has dealt with you, you cast
the same. You didn't believe this Christ.
You didn't believe this sovereign God. You wouldn't have anything.
You're religious, all right, but you cast the same in the
teeth of this, just like all the world is doing. And then
one day, when you saw who he was and why he was dying there,
you turned and said like that thief, You're not getting what you deserve. Lord, you're getting what I deserve. Oh, my. What I deserve. They hurled insults, added insult
to injury, the saying is. Cast the same into his teeth.
These, verse 15, he filled me with bitterness, anguish of soul,
and made me drunken with wormwood." You remember when Christ said,
I thirst? And it wasn't. Oh, that thirst,
sure he thirsted outwardly. He'd been beaten. His lips were
broken open, bloody and swollen. His tongue was cleaving to the
root. He hadn't had anything to drink
for hours, six hours. Sure he thirsted physically.
hanging under that hot mid-eastern sun. Sure, he thirsted physically,
but the thirst which he thirsted is a thirst which we can't enter
into. As the psalmist said, I thirst my soul, thirst my soul, panteth
after thee, O God, when shall you come? And that's when he
cried out, Oh my God, my God, I want to drink of that water. That rich man in hell one day,
Lazarus, said, Lazarus, just a dip. And it wasn't just water. He said, I'd like to hear one
more gospel message. Go warn my brothers. Oh, it's
a thirsty place here. And they came and they took on
a pole and put vinegar and shoved it in his mouth, added insult
and mocked his thirst. Verse seventeen, it says, And
thou hast removed my soul far from peace. He poured out his
soul unto death. They made him to drink that vinegar.
Then he cried, It's finished. Oh, I'm not even going to try
to save that like he said. And it says, the scripture says,
he hung his head. It didn't say his head dropped. It didn't say his head lolled
about on his chest helplessly. It said he bowed his head and gave up his
soul. He said, no man. walking on the
air, he said, no man takes my life from me. I'm God. You can't kill God. I'm the Lord of life. I give
life. I'm the one that gives or takes
away. I'm the one that wounds or heals. I'm the one that kills
or makes alive. I'm the one that makes poor or
makes rich. I'm the one, no man takes my life from me. But it
says he, purposely. sovereign man, hung, bowed his
head, is finished, and left his body. Now, as horrific as this scene
is, and terrible, is this a sad scene, huh? You know, remember when he was
carrying that cross and there was a whole group of women over
there beside him? And they were wailing and weeping and so forth
as he was pitying him. It was a pitiable thing. And
he stopped. He carried that cross on his
lacerated shoulders. Oh, my soul, only a barbarian
would not weep at such a thing. But he carried that thing by
them and they were weeping. He stopped. And he looked at
her and said, Winner, oh, don't weep for me. I don't have to go through this. I'm doing this because I want
to. You better thank God I'm doing this. You better weep for
yourselves and for your children that they might know and understand
I'm here. I'm the man. The only man approved
of God, the only man that can take away sin, the God, man, the Lamb of God
that taketh away the sin of the world. I am dying that thou may live
and not have to die. This wasn't a sad scene, although
it was. This was the most glorious thing
ever to happen. And this I recall to mind, verse
21, and I have hope. thinking about Calvary. Look
into that one on the tree there. That man got to do with me. That
man 2,000 years ago hanging on that cross. What's he got to
do with me 2,000 years later? How in the world is something
that's done that far long ago going to have any bearing on
me right now? How in the world is one man doing something going
to make this man get to God? Well, look at this, verse 22.
Because it's of the Lord's mercy that I'm not consumed. That song says, I should have
been crucified. You see, the wages of sin is
death. And that's what I've earned all
my life and earning more right now. I'm still a sinner. If any man say he has not sinned,
right now, he is a liar. I am a sinner. I have been a
sinner. I do sin. I think sin. I am a sinner. The wages of sin
is death. The wages of sin is all of these
things that we have been describing here. ridicule, mockery. You see, I
should stand before God someday and have Him mock me. And Proverbs chapter 1 says He's
going to do just that to some people. They're going to cry
and He's going to mock, the Scripture says. Why? Because they mocked His Son primarily. But I'm a sinner. I've earned
the wages of my life, which is death, ridicule. God should look
at me in the end and say, you haven't loved me with all your
heart and mind. Look at all I've done for you.
And He may Pull back a panoramic vision of all of our lives, how
that He's fed us and watered us and clothed us and gave us
the air we breathe and food and raiment and all of the blessings
and all of the protection and a lifetime of providence and
protection and provisions and so forth. Pull that back and
say, look what I've done for you. It's your reasonable service
that you should serve me on earth. It's your reasonable service
after everything I've done for you. I didn't have to make you
to begin with. Look at this. You haven't left
me. Now you're going to pay. You
haven't even thanked me. Not one time. Spurgeon said the
worst thing you can call a human being is ungrateful. Heard that
term. He's an ungrateful wretch. What I did for him, he didn't
even care. He didn't even thank me. Most in gratitude of all
is God sending his son and men turning their noses up at him. And oh, we, we all did the same
thing. But God, who is merciful, for
his great mercy, wherewith he hath loved Mephibosheth came into that big
palace of David fully expecting to be killed. He was an enemy
of the king. He was Saul's son. He deserved the wrath and the
judgment of King David. He was an enemy. Mephibosheth
came into that king's palace and saw all those things prepared
for him, and he said, Oh, who am I? A dead dog. Why should you show such favor
to me, mercy to me? Why would you spare me? David
didn't spare the rest of Saul's sons, did he? He chose that one. Why? For Jonathan's sake. If you understand the meaning
of these three words, you'll understand God's covenant of
grace. For Christ's sake. Everything God does is for Christ's
sake, for the glory of his son. The love of God is not because
we're lovable. Oh, it's for Christ's sake, the
love of God, Romans 8, 39, is in Christ Jesus, God's Son. God doesn't love maggots. He
only loves them when he turns them into sons. He can only love
them when he sees them as sons, future sons. God can't love anything
but holiness. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness.
We're unrighteous. We're filthy right. We're a stench
in God's nostrils. How is God going to love such
a thing? Only if he sees it becoming righteous in Christ. Only if
he sees it going to be made just like his Son, whom he loves with
all of his heart and his soul. Like Barnard said, he loved his
Son so much, he determined, he predestinated before the foundation
of the world to conform a whole slew of people just like that
boy, because he loved him. He said,
I want them all just like him. Can't love anything less than
the man. There's a man. And it's of the Lord's mercies
that we're not consumed. We ought to, because of God had
compassion. Verse 22 is compassion. It's compassion. Chiefly, we
saw this last week over in Ezekiel 36. God had pity. He said, I
had pity, not for your sake. He said, I didn't do this for
your sake, Israel, did He? He said that several times in
Scripture, Henry. I don't do this for your sakes, O house
of Israel. He said, I do it for my holy
namesake, which you've profaned among the heathen. And I'm going
to get my glory in you. And you're going to experience
my compassion. But my chief compassion and my
chief pity is reserved for my glory, which you haven't given
me, which no one can properly give to me. And I'm going to
give it to myself, such as it's never been seen before. And you're
going to get in on it. Now, praise me for it. It's compassion,
Zephiel, but he is compassionate. I wouldn't make God to be some
kind of austere, unfeeling, uncaring. Oh, no. God is merciful. It's great mercy that he says,
I will have mercy. He told that to Abraham. He said,
you go tell them, or to Moses, you go tell them, I will have
mercy. I will. You shouldn't. How's God going to be just and
forgive the people? But he says, I will. I will have
mercy. But it's on whom I will. It's
sovereign mercy. Right, Joe? He said, I will be
gracious. I'm going to give the gift of
eternal life, but to whom I will. Not who wills to accept me. It's who I will to accept. It's
who I will accept in the Beloved. It's my prerogative. Cannot I
do with mine own what I will? Hath not the potter power of
the clay to make one a vessel on the honor to save another
on the dishonor? Sure he does. Sure he does. But God, His compassion, full
of compassion, had compassion on such a Worm as I. And this compassion, this mercy,
it says, fails not. Thank God. It's mercies that
says they're new every morning. Verse 23. New every morning. Why is that? Because I wake up. I go to bed. I don't know about
you. I go to bed, and the most vile and wicked thoughts go through
my head. Anybody else? And I wake up in
the morning. Why can't I control this, Sherry? Why? I wake up in the morning
asking that. Why do I have such thoughts?
And I say with John Newton, "'Tis the point I long to know. Do
I love the Lord or not? Why am I thus? Why this vow of
praying?" And Paul said it in Romans 7 all the way through.
When I want to do what I would do, I can't. David said, My sin is ever before
me. They've gone over my head. They're
more than I can bear, the Scripture says. But His mercies are new every
morning. He didn't just have mercy two
thousand years ago, Terry. He had it two minutes ago. Because
that sin had to be paid for, didn't it? Every sin must receive
a just recompense of justice. And I've seen this, this, this
sermon is not pure. The motive is not all together
for the glory of God. How will God have it? Only through
a sacrifice, a blood sacrifice. His mercies anew every morning. Great is, look at this. Oh, look
at it. Verse 23. Everybody. Great is
Thy faithfulness. Oh, my soul. This generation's
so far in the Gospel. This generation. Oh, they may
say, by grace, you say, through faith. They may say that, but
they don't know what it means. Because I hear a generation of
people bragging on their faith. Even that's a gift of God. Faith
isn't what saves us. The blood of Jesus Christ saves
us. All faith does is what God says
for it to do. Acknowledge my Son. Look to my
Son. The Scripture doesn't say it
is faith that makes atonement for the soul. It says it's the
blood. It's not the blood plus my faith. It's God's faith. It's his to
give. That's what Ephesians 2 says.
For by grace you are saved through faith, and that is not of yourself. It's not my faith. People are
going to stand before God some days. Well, I believed on Jesus. I did. I accepted him. I walked
the aisle. Well, Mom prayed me through, and I walked the aisle,
and I accepted Jesus as my personal Savior. He was knocking on my
door. That's what the preacher said. And I let him in. Now, I expect
to be led into your heaven, God. It is not my faith. I don't have
faith. All men have not faith. It's
the gift of God. It's the gift like everything
else, the gift of God, just like His unspeakable gift of His Son.
This is the mystery, 1 Timothy 3, 16. It's the mystery of God.
God was manifest in the flesh, and it goes on to say, and believed
on in the Word. Believe. Faith. Galatians chapter
4 says this. Galatians chapter 1, I'm sorry.
Galatians chapter 1 says this, and you need to understand that.
That's a little two-letter word that's said three times. Chapter
2 said three times in Galatians 2 verses 16 through 20. It's the little word O-F. Of. Paul said a man is not justified
by the works of the law. And don't let me shock you here,
but Paul says we're justified by faith, but he said in the
previous chapter that he said we're justified by blood. Now
which is it? We're justified by faith in his
blood, he said. All faith does is acknowledge
what Christ did. That's not a work, is it? Besides, that's the work of God.
God's the one that did it. We can't take credit for the
faith. But here's what it says. We're not justified by the works
of the law or even by our own drummed-up faith, our own decision
or will, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. It says that three
times in the space of five verses, the faith of Christ. the faithfulness
of Jesus Christ to come down here, to live the life God demanded
of us, to die the death that we deserve, to go back to the
right hand of the Father and ever live and never quit, Terry,
never quit making intercession for us, never quit pouring out
the blood on the mercy seat before God. Great is Thy faithfulness,
not mine, it's up and down. One day I might believe. Yes,
I believe. Next day I say, I don't know if I do or not. So where
does it depend on? What does it depend on? My faith. Thy faithfulness. He said to Timothy, if we believe
not yet, he about is faithful. Thank God. We have a faithful
high priest, the Scripture says. I'm not faithful to him. You
reckon Peter would have pleaded that? Peter, you reckon Peter's
going to just say, I was faithful, I lived a victorious life. Oh
no, Peter said, I denied him. Thank God he didn't deny me. Thank God he said one day, go
tell my disciples I'm risen and be sure you tell Peter. These are chosen, elected, predestinated
vessel of mine. I loved him. Turn with me to Psalm 16, and
I'll quit. Psalm 16. Now, on down through these verses
that we just looked at, the writer, Jeremiah, and we
can say, Oh, the Lord is my portion. says my soul, therefore will
I hope in Him. The Lord is my portion." Boy,
how does this message affect you? What does this mean to you? What does the Gospel mean to
you? What does the Lord Jesus Christ,
this One, mean to you? I'll tell you what, if you're
a sinner, Realize you're a sinner before
this holy God and deserving of His wrath and His judgment. The
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ means everything. Jesus Christ becomes your... He doesn't come up and become
a part-time thing. A part of your life. I hear people say that Christ
is a part of my life. Christ is. When Christ, who is
our life, shall appear, then shall we appear with Him. Christ
becomes to the believer all and in all. That pearl of great price,
that glorious portion that the saints enjoy at the hands of
God Almighty. And this is what every man after
God's own heart says when he realizes that God sent His Son
to do this for him. Now, doctrine will make you admire
the gospel. But I tell you, if God makes
it real to your heart that Christ did this for you, then Christ
becomes precious. And you can say this, verse 5,
the Lord is the portion of my inheritance. People everywhere are looking
for heaven. They want to get to heaven, aren't they? They
want to walk on those streets of gold. That appeals to the
flesh, but you're not in the flesh, Paul said in Romans 8. You're led by the Spirit. Be
carnally minded, fleshly minded, dead. You're just looking for
streets of gold. You ain't going to see them. But if you're looking
to, looking for, looking forward to seeing that one who died for
me, I'll be looking. You can have all your mansions
in glory, Now, you can have all those streets of pure gold, but
I'll be looking for scars up in heaven, the scars of the one
that made me up. That's what I'm looking at right
now. That's what I'm enjoying right now. The Lord is a portion
of my inheritance. Like David said in Psalm 73,
25, whom have I in heaven but thee? Why do I want to get to
heaven and walk around on streets of gold when I look into the
face of the one whose countenance shines as the sun and all of
its strength? That gold be pale in comparison. That's the reason
we're going to walk on it, Sherry. We're going to show our disdain
for it. Gold, isn't that a pretty street? Street? I had no idea
he was even walking on a street. Boy, there's a sight. Look at
him. Unto him that love doth. The
Lord is a portion of mine inheritance and my cup. He maintains my lot. Thank God. God maintains my lot. I tell you, the lions are falling
unto me. In pleasant places. This reminds
me of old Lot and Abraham. Lot and Abraham, they stood up
on a mountain and looked at everything, well-watered plains of Sodom
and all that. Which would you choose? Let me ask you now, be
honest, which would you choose? Stand there, look out over there,
stand on the Blue Ridge Mountains here, and you look down through
there, and there's the Shenandoah Valley. Which do you want? There's all
the people, there's cars, boats, houses, riches, money, land,
corn, all this stuff the world has to offer. If you bow down
and worship me, Satan said, I'll give you all these things here.
Is that what you want? The world, what do you give for
your soul? The world again, beautiful? Beautiful. Lots of high, that's where I
want to go. That's where I want to live. Catch my lot there."
He turned to Abraham and said, You
get these mountains. You get five-mile mountain. That's a disappointment. That's
a disappointment for Abraham. Five-mile mountain. How am I
going to grow anything on this? It's hard to get my car down
at Indentary. the mountain. But God said to Abraham, said,
Abraham, in Genesis 15, Abraham, cheer up, buddy. Cheer up. All the lions have
fallen unto you in pleasant places, Abraham. You get, now get a load
of this, Abraham, you get me. And it said from there on that
Abraham talked with God, or he was a friend of God. And after he saw, see it did
not yet appear to him, Henry, what things God had prepared
for him, but finally one day as the course of life went along,
Abraham grew up a little bit, you know, and he saw what this
meant to have God with him. She said, Boy, the lions fell
unto me in pleasant places. I'm sure glad I didn't choose
Sodom. Why? What happened to Sodom? She burned up. And Lot just about did. But because
of God's mercy, drug him out of there. We're living right
in the midst of it, Stevie. We're in Sodom, buddy. That railroad's
Sodom and Gomorrah, isn't it? The bank everywhere is Sodom
and Gomorrah. This ain't one nation under God.
This is one nation under the wrath of God. God's angry with
the wicked every day, and the fire's going to fall. The earth's
been splitting wide open everywhere. California, the tornadoes, earthquakes,
men don't heed it, do they? She's going to fall. The fire's
going to fall. Thank God my lot has fallen into
pleasantness. I didn't choose it. Terry, I
didn't choose it. I was just like young men. to come in here and sit on the
back. I was the same way. I didn't care anything about
this gospel. You care less? I went there because Mom and
Dad wanted me to. Thank God, though, I found that later on.
I was there because God Almighty determined for me to be there
before the foundation of the world. And He had His love and
His foreign love set upon me. And He said, You're going to
love this someday, buddy. Because there was a time I said,
No, I won't. And God said, Yes, you will.
And I was made willing in the day of his power. And if you'll read that, you
young people, read that, go on and read that Lamentations chapter
3. It says it's good for a young person. Gentlemen, it says it's
good for a young man that he bear this yoke in his youth.
Now you think, Stephen, you think you've got the world before you.
Catherine, you're old enough to understand that. You think you've got the world,
but live a life. You think you've got the life
together. And granted, there's some good things to be enjoyed
out there in this life of friendship and fellowship and getting married
and children and all that. And this world is good. God gives
us all things richly to enjoy. I'll tell you what about this
world. It's a pit of corruption. And unless
God puts this yoke of discipleship on you early, possibly, you may never take it in. Right? When the evil days come nigh,
the old age, you know, see old people setting their way. They've
got in this world, and this world's in them, and they have no thoughts
of God, and then God has no thoughts of them. And they die on the
rock, on the porch, on their rocking chair. Curse God and
die. But it's good for a young person
to bear this yoke. Christ said, take my guilt upon
you. The world is hard, Shannon. Isn't it, Mama? Hard, hard place,
cruel place, sinful place. It'll drag you down with it.
Sodom looked good to Lot, didn't it? But it was a hard and cruel
place. The peer pressure, the sin, the
death, earning a living. People want to get married. What
do they want to do that for? Sorrow, trouble. Want to have
children. Why? They'll break your hearts. They'll cause you trouble. They'll
cause you sleepless nights. I tell you where you need to
set your life. I need to tell you where God
needs to set your life. And your affection? Things above. Because it only gets better. It only gets better. You experience
a little bit of it here and you enjoy it. It gets better. It says in that same chapter,
it says it's good that a man waits on the Lord. Waits. World comes along and says, here,
take this, take that. Doesn't it look good? The believer
says, no thank you, I'm waiting for something better. I'm waiting
on something better. I've had that too. I've had that
water. I've drunk, like Solomon. I drank
the water of this world. I dove in it. Swam around in
it. You know what happened? It's just like the parable says. It's like a dog wallowing in
his vomit. It's a corrupt world. It won't satisfy. It won't give
any comfort, any peace, really any real joy. It just won't do
it. There's only one place to find
it. That's in the Lord Jesus Christ. Worship Him. Come to know him
love him. Stand with me now dismiss.