Now I ask you to turn with me
in your Bibles to Psalm 119. Psalm 119. Psalm 119. You pray for me as we look into
this tonight, and you pray for yourself. The Lord's got to bless
me before he'll bless you, generally. How different is the language of a man after God's own heart
like David, and the language of mere professors of religion,
how different the language is. Throughout the Psalms, David
continually cries unto God. He's not just going through some
cold, dead, dry liturgy. He's not reading a paper. He's
not giving some discourse. He's not reading in some old,
dead language something he's rehearsed and practiced. He's
crying from the depths of his heart for things that he really
desires. And you know what those desires
are? Throughout the Psalms, if you've read them, Things that
are really needful, mercy, grace, communion with God, spiritual
quickening, God's presence. There's very little mention of
material wants, very little mention. Very few times does David speak
of his physical needs, except when he wants deliverance from
his enemy. Have you ever noticed that about this song? Very little
mention of material wants and physical needs. And there's no
flippant or careless or familiar tones in David's pleadings with
God. There's reverent, fearful, careful
cries of a man who realizes something of the holiness of God, of the
fearful and awesome presence of God. There's no flippant,
careless, silly little terms. He realizes something of the
character of God and his awesome, sovereign power. And these are no idle, hypocritical
boasts. When David says things like,
I have chosen the way of truth. Thy judgments have I laid before
me. I've stuck unto your testimonies." These aren't idle or hypocritical
boasts of a man's works or morality. He's not boasting or bragging
about himself here. This is the true heartfelt desire
and cry of a man who really, truly wants to worship God. There's
a difference. Very few, stay with me now, very few professing believers, that is,
very few who call themselves Christians, very few people,
professing believers cry out in the way that David cries out
here in this passage tonight, very few professing, but all
of God's people do, every one of them, daily. Very few profess
and create. You don't hear this language.
You don't hear this language. You don't hear them talking like
this. You don't hear people praying like this, crying out like this.
You do all the way through the scripture. Every one of God's
prophets and apostles and people throughout the scriptures, this
is the tone of their voice. This is the cry of their heart.
This is their language. You don't hear that much in mere
nominal professors. But all of God's people cry out
like this. And this is our constant and
continual cry. Look at it. Verse 25. My soul
cleaves under the dust. My soul cleaves under the dust. That's a constant language and
cry of a child of God. I'm down and dirty. That's what he's saying there.
I'm down and dirty. There's two ways of looking at
this, this cleaving under the dust. First of all, I believe
he's talking about the dust of repentance. In other words, I'm
on my face in the dust before this holy, thrice holy God, repenting
of my sin. And a man that doesn't repent
of what he is, not just what he's done, but what he is every
day, he's out of favor with God. You
can't approach God except by repentance. Dust of repentance. I'm on my
face in the dust of repentance. I'm low down. I feel myself to
be lower, like Donny Bell says, lower than a snake's belly. If
God ever lets a man or a woman really see the depths of their
heart, their innermost being, they'll cry with David continually. My soul cleaves under the dust. Cleaves under read through the
Psalms Psalm 38 songs like that. Oh my he said my sin and my iniquity
is ever before me I'm worthless. I'm no good. I'm vain. You know
a child of God never gets above this. I'm telling you a child
of God a man after God's own heart a man who really knows
something about the holiness and And the righteous character
of God Almighty, he sees himself. He sees his own black heart in
light of God's spotlessness. And he never really gets above
this cry. He says, I'm worthless, I'm no
good, I'm vain, I'm useless. I'm counted less than the dust
of the balances." Isn't that what he said in Isaiah? The nations,
there's a drop of the bucket, they're counted to him less than
the dust of the balances. He says, like, was it Abraham
that said, I'm going to take it upon me to speak one more
time? You don't have to hear me, Abraham says, but I'm going
to open my mouth one more time. I who am but dust and ashes. Didn't he say that? If I hold
my mouth, my heart's bubbling with it. I've got to cry out.
Who else am I going to go to? But I tell you what, I'm a nothing.
I'm a nobody. I'm just dust and ashes. But would you hear me?
I'm telling you, God delights in that sort of prayer. Not this
flippant and careless stuff I hear today. Me and Jesus, we're good
buddies. Yeah, I talked to God this morning. Now, wait a minute. Christ said no man comes unto
the Father but by me. Scriptures are very clear that
God won't speak to or be spoken to by anybody except through
a mediator, Christ. And there's one mediator. It
ain't Mary. It ain't the preacher. It ain't
the soul winner. You got to come to Christ. And then the Holy
Spirit of Christ takes your petitions to the Father, Romans 8. Lord, I repent, I'm just dust
and ashes. And secondly, I believe he's
talking about my soul cleaves under the dust. I think he's
talking about the dust of this world. It sticks to me. My soul, my innermost person,
everything about me is cleaving to this dust. You understand
where I'm coming from, where he's coming from, I believe?
It seems like I have my mind, my body, and my soul in the dirt
all the time. The world, this dirty world all
the time. Those three essences of sin,
the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life. I'm full of it. I'm dirty. The dust of this world leaves
me dirty. I'm too fond, it's like David's
saying, I'm just too fond of this ball of dirt. Can you say that? Oh Lord, I'd
love to be through with this ball of dirt. My soul seems to
cleave to this ball of dirt, to this dust. Ah boy, my soul
cleaves unto the dust, he said, quicken me. Quicken thou me according
to thy word. Quicken thou me. This word quicken
means to make alive. To make alive. Only one who feels
himself to be dead and trespasses in sin will ask for life, right?
You hear anybody praying like that today? Lord, give me life. No, everybody's talking about,
well, I'm a sure for heaven as if I'm already there. That's
not the language of David, is it? Lord, I feel like I'm dead
in trespasses and sin. Will you make me alive unto God
through Jesus Christ our Lord? Turn with me over there to that
passage, Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. When you
feel you're dead in trespasses and sin, there's only one place
to go. There's only one place to turn,
and that is to Christ who is life. And it says here in Ephesians
2 verse 1, and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and
sin. Now this is a fundamental of
the faith. People talk about being fundamentalists.
We're fundamentalists. Fundamental of the faith, the
fundamental starting point of the faith is that we're dead.
And that Christ, that God who is life must come to us. A man
doesn't get life after he believes. A man believes after God gives
life, right? You must be born again, Christ
said, that is born from above. Whosoever receives Christ, there
in John chapter 1, does so because they were born of God. Not of
blood, not of the will of man, not of the will of the flesh,
but born of God. In other words, the reason a
man believes is because he's got that spark of life in him.
Because God who is life, Christ who is life, the Holy Spirit
of life comes to one who's dead and trespasses in sin. Dead to
God, no heart for God, no desires for God, won't call on God until
God calls on him. That's the fundamental, that's
the starting point of salvation. And that's where you keep going.
You never leave that, do you, Henry? When you first realize
that you're dead in trespasses and sin, God's the one that made
you realize it. He gave you that spark of sight.
You were blind to it before. God's the one that gave you ears
to hear his voice, the voice that says, come unto me. All
his sheep do hear his voice. If he doesn't give the ears to
hear, though, you're deaf. If he doesn't give the voice,
if he doesn't give the voice to one who is dumb, who cannot
speak, they'll never speak. They'll never call on him. Whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's taken
from Joel 2.32, which says, all that the Lord calls upon. And when you first realize that
you're dead and trespassed in sin, God gave you that realization.
And he's the one who must quicken you. Wherein in time past, look
at verse 2, you walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also
we had our conversation in time past, the lust of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh, and of the mind, and were
by nature the children of wrath, even as others. Sounds pretty
hopeless, doesn't it? Ephesians 2, 1 through 3. Sounds pretty hopeless, doesn't
it? Doesn't it sound like that man, that woman, is incapable
in and of themselves to do anything? They're dead. Dead in sin. But God. Here's life. Here's salvation. It's in these two words here.
But God. Who is rich in mercy. Mercy means
undeserved. undeserved. It means not getting
what you deserve. It means God sparing you. Mercy
is for the guilty. Christ said, I came not to cause
the righteous but sinners to repent. But God who is rich in
mercy, who is full of it, for his great love wherewith he loved
us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us. together with Christ. There's your answer. There's
where quickening comes from in Christ. And that's exactly what
David said over here in our text. Quicken thou me according to
thy word. Well, who is the word? What is
the word? Well, it's twofold, but yet it's one. There are two that bear, there
are two, at the mouth of two or three witnesses the thing
is established. Well, you have the written word and you have
the incarnate word, but they're one and the same. Christ is the
word. In the beginning, John 1.1, in
the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the
word was God. John 1.14, the word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. Christ is the Word, and what he said there in Ephesians
2, that we must be quickened with Christ. That is, God must
put us in Christ, who is life, else we will remain dead in our
sin. God, of God are you in Christ,
who of God is made unto you wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. This life-giving process is all in the hands of
him in whom we live and move and have our very being. And
anytime a man even cries out for this, it's because God has
created a spark of light in him. My soul cleaveth unto the dust. Quicken thou me according to
Christ. Put me by faith in Christ. Quicken
me according to Christ. And twofold, I believe he's talking
about the believer who feels himself dead and dry and cold
and lifeless and untouched and unfeeling. to the things of God,
the state we get into so often. It seems like it's every other
day, don't we? Oh, Lord, he says, quicken me.
And the place you find quickening, the place you find new life,
the place you find peace, comfort, joy, strength, The place you find it all is
right here, right here. Quicken thou me. I don't know
how many times I've heard some of you say, oh, I was feeling
so dead and so low down and so, oh, so bad when I came here,
but boy, when I left here, I was walking on cloud nine. The Word
of God, the Word of God is where you find life-giving power. I remember this passage so well.
This passage sticks out in my mind like is one of the times
that God spoke to me with such power. Now listen to me. God
never speaks outside of this Word. If God's going to speak
to a man, he's not going to give him any new or special revelation. He's going to give him scripture.
Scripture. And don't listen to, don't pay
any attention to, any man who tells you God spoke to him. Unless
it's through this book. Unless it's through, unless it's
according, if they speak, Isaiah 820, John. Have to quote it nearly
every time we come up here, don't we? To the law and to the testimony,
if they speak not according to this word, it's because there's
no light in them. No understanding, no discernment.
God won't speak. God in these last days has spoken
unto us by his Son, Charles, who is the Word, which is the
Word, Christ, the Book. I remember one time my wife and
I were traveling home from a vacation, and I was feeling about as low
as a man could get. I'd been going through a real
dry spell, spiritual dry spell, like we get into at times. Oh,
I felt this, she kept asking me, what's wrong, you know, and
you just can't, this is something you can't really share with somebody
else between you and God, but, oh, I was feeling low, and we
just decided, I mean, this was on the spur of the moment, we
were passing through a particular area, and there was a gospel
preacher, a true gospel preacher, I said, let's go by there. We've
just got time. It was on a Wednesday night.
I said, let's go by there and sit in on their services. We've
just got time to make the service. So we drove by there, and sure
enough, this man opened to this very passage of Scripture here.
And he quoted it, and it was like it was just me and God right
there. Oh, my soul cleaves under the
dust, quicken me. And he did quicken me according
to this word. Ah, boy. Feel dead and helpless,
lifeless to the things of God? I tell you what you need, you
need to hear the gospel one more time. Like that commercial, was
it cornflakes? Taste it again for the first
time. You need to hear the gospel.
If you've never heard it before, you need to hear it the first
time. If you've heard it before, you need to hear it again, don't
you? And I needed to hear the gospel afresh. Lord, quicken
me, quicken me, make me alive to the things of God. I feel
so dead. Quicken me to the things of Christ.
Would you show me Christ one more time? You don't have to,
but I'd sure enough appreciate it. One more time. Verse 26,
he says, I've declared my ways and thou hurtest me. I've declared
my ways and thou hurtest me. Like I said a moment ago, the
first step in salvation, now this is not like they say,
I'm going to have to clarify everything I say. It's not like
they say that we make the first step and God will meet us halfway.
That is not in the scripture. The scripture talks about the
good shepherd coming to the lost sheep and picking them up and
putting them on his shoulders and carrying them all the way
home. This silly little saying, footprints in the sand, you know?
If you got that on your wall, take it down. There's not but
one set of footprints there. It's Christ's. We don't walk
to heaven. He picks us up and carries us
all the way. He carries us all the way like the good shepherd
that he is. But he says, I've declared my ways, and the first
step that God brings us to What God first brings us to is this
thing of repentance. Repentance toward God and faith
in Christ Jesus. Repentance toward God. That's
important. David didn't say, I just sinned
against my neighbor. I sinned against this person.
When he sinned with Bathsheba, he didn't say I sinned with Bathsheba
or against Bathsheba or against Uriah. No, he said, against thee
and thee only have I sinned and done deceitful in thy sight.
That God will be clear when he speaks. Not just when he judges
me. So it's repentance toward God.
But this first step that God brings a man or a woman to in
salvation is repentance. Repentance. Repentance. And I'll say this much right
here and then I'll go on. You've not really repented until
you've repented about your good works. Until you've repented
of your righteousness. You've not yet repented. Until
you said with Isaiah, all my righteousness are filthy rags.
In my hands no price I bring. You've not yet really truly repented
until you've totally emptied yourself of all that you are. Until you've come, we read it
over there, naked, John read it in the study tonight. Until
you come naked and open before the eyes of him with whom we
have to do. We can't fool God. God's not
mocked. We come, we declare our ways
unto him. I mean all of them. All of them. It's the first step. And the
first step in the recovery of a fallen believer is repentance. Acknowledge what you are, where
you are, what you're going through. Go ahead, let's get it. Cast
all your care, all your sin, upon him. He cares for you. He knows exactly what you're
going through. We need to realize the problem and confess it. Confess
it. You know, often we get so bad,
I'm speaking to believers here, of course, an unregenerate man,
he doesn't have any idea what he's like, but a believer sometimes
gets so bad, he doesn't know or care. We get in such a bad
state at times, we don't even know how bad we are and we don't
even care. And then God has to show us ourselves,
doesn't He? He has to make us declare our ways to him. Like
Adam. Remember when Adam fell in the
garden? God came and said, Adam, where
are you? Now God wasn't asking for information.
God wasn't looking for, where are you now? Come on, quit your
hiding. He wasn't asking that at all. God is omniscient. God
sees all, knows all. God is omnipresent. He's everywhere
at the same time. God knew where Adam was. What
he was asking Adam was, Adam, where are you now? Just look
at what you've got yourself into, Adam. Tell me, Adam, where are
you now? Now, where are you? Now, what
a fine mess you've got yourself into. Where are you, Adam? Fess up! And he didn't, did he? He really didn't. He started
blaming on the woman. Like Jacob. Remember when the
Lord wrestled with Jacob? What'd he say? What's your name?
He knew Jacob's name. Why did he name him? He separated
him from his mother's womb with his brother. He wasn't asking
for what his name was. He was telling Jacob, I'm demanding
of you an answer for yourself. You tell me. What's your name?
Confess. Declare your ways to me, Jacob.
What's your name? The name Jacob means cheat, surplanner,
no good, usurper. of authority, liar, scheming,
conniving, no good, sinner. Jacob, that's my name, Lord.
Jacob, that's me. I'm going to change it. Since
you've admitted it, I'm going to change it. Now you're Israel.
And we come to God at all times. What's your name? Why, don't
you know me? Here I am. I heard Oral Roberts
say this one time. Why do I quote these guys? Just
so you'll know how far out they are. I heard Oral Roberts say one
time, jokingly, he said, I dreamed one time I went to heaven and
I got to heaven and the Lord said to me, well, you're Oral
Roberts, aren't you? And I'm not going to repeat the
rest of what he said, it was blasphemous. You're not going to come before
God and declare, here I am! Are we? We better hope Christ says for
us, here I am. When he calls our name, let me
tell you that story. It was Roland Hill. Roland Hill, an old preacher
years ago, he said he dreamed that he died and went to heaven.
And he was hearing the roll call of different people. John Smith,
here. Joe Thompson, here. Susan, something right here. He said he was going down the
list and he was waiting to hear his name called. He was shaking
his boots. And he saw the awesomeness of
this God, this holy God. He was scared to death. The fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And he knew something
about that. Roland Hill. And then the name
was called. Roland Hill! Oh, he said his
knees became, he wanted to fall on his face. He didn't even want to speak.
He was undone. He was like, Isaiah said, I'm
a man of unclean lips. What am I doing opening my mouth
here in this holy place? Rolling hill, the name was called
again. And he said he couldn't get his
name out, but he heard somebody say, here. He said he knew he didn't say
it. And he looked over there and there was Immanuel, the son
of God saying, here. I am Roland Hill." And the Father
said, come on in, Roland. In Christ is where salvation
is to be found. We better not be heard from in
that day. Better not open our big mouth. Be still. and know
that I'm God, he said. Keep your foot when you go into
the house of God, Ecclesiastes said. Keep your foot and be not
hasty to utter anything before the Lord. Why does he say foot?
Because we've got it in our mouths. Keep your foot. Declare your
ways, though. Declare your ways unto me, the
Lord says. David says, I've declared my
ways and you heard me. I tell you, I look into the faces
of walking dead men all the time when I preach. I look into the faces of men
and women and I think to myself, what will it take to move them? Like Christ gave that parable
of those that piped, he said, we've piped unto you and you
haven't danced. We've played a sad song, you
haven't mourned. And I cry out unto God, Lord
move them, Lord awaken them, Lord quicken them. It reminded me of an illustration
in Bunyan's book, The Holy War. If you know anything about that
book, Bunyan gave this allegory. Listen to it. This will be a
blessing. Bunyan gave this allegory of how that Diabolus, who represented
the devil, had taken over the town of Mansoul. Mansoul, this
town. And there were different gates
to that town. Different entrances to that town.
One of them was the ear gate. One of them was the eye gate.
And I forget another. He said that Diabolus, the devil,
just talked his way in. He talked from a distance, and
he had a pleasant voice, a smooth voice, just like he did to Eve,
you know, and Adam. And the people of the town threw
open, wide open, the gates. The ear gate threw it wide open.
The eye gate threw it wide open to him. Come on in. You look
good and sound good. And he came in and put them all
under bondage, and set up his rule over them, set up his rule
in the castle, which was the heart, right in the center of
town. And the first thing he did, Nancy,
when he came into that town of Mansoul, was to take a man called
Mr. Recorder. That was the understanding. The understanding. And he put
him in a dark room. He darkened his understanding.
He darkened Mr. Understanding. And he took a
man called Mr. Conscience and he shut up. He
put him in a dark room. Nobody could hear him again.
Quiet night, Mr. Conscience. Well, at any rate,
time went by. And the owner of the town, who
was King Shaddai, God, he's the owner of the soul, he owns the
town. He doesn't belong to Diabolus.
Oh, no. He owns the place. The owner
of the town was determined to have it back, and have it back
he would. So the only recourse was to send
his son. He's all-powerful, conquering
son, whose name was Emmanuel. Send him down there to recapture
this town of Mansoul. So here he came. Emmanuel came
to the town of Mansoul. He came up to the ear gate and
he began talking to the people who were standing over the gate
there, looking at him, watching him, him and his men. He began
talking to them. Would they open the gate? No,
not on your life. They wouldn't open. He talked
to them. He reasoned with them. They wouldn't
open the gate. They did to Diabolus. They wouldn't
to Emmanuel. So what does he do? I said, I'm coming in. If I don't
come in by force, you'll not let me in, will you? I'm coming
in. It's mine, and I'm taking it
back, what's rightfully mine. I bought and paid for it. So
he came in. He said there was a street called
Straight that went straight to the man's house. Mr. Recorder's
house, a street called Straight, straight from the Irrigate to
the Understanding. And he went straight down that street with
his men, with his, one was called Captain Boernegees, that is the
Sons of Thunder, the Gospels, Captain Judgment, Captain Conviction,
and they started ramming on that fella's door, too, until they
busted it down. And he came down to them. And
finally, eventually, to make a long story short, and it is
a long story, But to make a long story short, the people of the
town, they finally came to the understanding when Mr. Recorder,
he had these gathered meetings and all, and said, Emmanuel is
taking this place. We better repent. We better bow
down. Tell you what we better do, we
better cry for mercy to Emmanuel or he'll destroy us all. They
didn't realize the love and the mercy and the grace of this mighty
captain, mighty king. So they said, what are we going
to do? Who are we going to send? Who will go for us? Who will
go to Emmanuel with our plea? Who will plead with him for us,
for mercy upon us?" Well, a man called Mr. Desires awoke. He
said, I'll go, I'll go, but I'll not go alone. I'll not go alone. Send with me Mr. Wet Eyes. Mr. Wet Eyes. Surely he'll hear us. Surely he'll hear us. And old
Mr. Wetteyes, it said he was a man
who could express himself like no other, Mr. Wetteyes. It said
they came to Immanuel and talked with him about so many things. But Mr. Wetteyes, I remember
this distinctly, what he said there. He said, you know, he
said, I don't know if it's just the moistness of my blood that
causes me to do this, or if it's really the heartfelt feeling
of my heart, but he said my tears are just full of dirt. and my
repentance is poor. But Mr. Wet Eyes and Mr. Desires Awake pleaded with Immanuel
to have mercy on the town of Mansoul. Do you reckon he did? Read the
rest of the book. Of course he did. Of course he
did. And I'll tell you what we need to do. We need to clear
our ways to him and we need to do it, we need to take along
Mr. Wet Eyes Oh, Mr. Wetteye has been out a while. We need to draw up Mr. Wetteye.
Find him. Take him with us. Mr. Desire
is awake. He's been asleep a while, hasn't he? Somebody wake him
up. Somebody wake him up. And send him to Emmanuel. And
declare our ways to him. And ask him to have mercy upon
us. And to teach us thy statutes. Teach us thy statutes. When will
we learn, huh? When will we learn, John? When
will we actually hide his word in our heart that we might not
sin against him? When will we actually do that? When will we learn? What will
it take to impress the things of God upon our minds and our
hearts? What will it take? But I'll tell you who it'll take.
I don't know how long it'll take. It'll take a lifetime is what
it'll take. But I'll tell you who it'll take. It'll take the
power of the Holy Spirit. To teach us, we need the all-powerful
teacher, don't we? The Holy Spirit is the teacher
that comes from God. He's the teacher. And the scripture does
give this promise. If you then, being evil, know
how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall
the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit? them that ask him,
but you have not because you ask not." We've got out of the
asking business, haven't we? We need to ask, we need to cry
out, declare our ways unto him and beg him to teach his statutes,
his word, his gospel to us. Make me to understand the way
of thy precepts. I've got to hurry. Make me to
understand the way of thy precepts. Wake up, Mr. Recorder. Enlighten,
Mr. Recorder, within me, my understanding.
Call forth, Mr. Desires-Awake. Stir up, Mr. Would-Live. Stir up, Mr. Would-Good. Stir
up, Mr. Would-Christ. Stir them up within
me. Make me, he says, make me, make
me. That reminds me of Philippians
3, where he said, whatever it takes, if my insides are not
attained under the resurrection, my insides, can you say that
from the depths of your heart? Whatever it takes, do it. Make me. You've got to make me.
Like Psalm 23 says, the Lord is my shepherd. He maketh me
to lie down. He's got to make us lie down
like a dumb donkey, like a dumb sheep, like a black sheep, who
will roam out into poisonous pastures. He's got to make us. He's got
to collar us, bring us in, and make us. Now there's a good food.
Don't go over there. Right there. Lay down right there.
Stay right there. Rest in Christ. Labor to enter into that rest.
Lay down. He's got to make us, doesn't he, John? He's got to
make. Oh, and we cry out, Lord, make
me to understand the way of thy precepts. Would you force your
way into this thick skull? Would you take that sword that
is sharper than, that word of yours that's sharper than a two-edged
sword and pierce this old hard heart? It doesn't seem like anything
can get through this. Lord, if anybody can, you can,
if you're willing. Would you? Would you pierce this
hard heart? If you'll do an operation on
me, on my heart, and enable me to live again like Hezekiah,
we need to pray like Hezekiah. Lord, give me 15 more years.
Then maybe I'll learn something. I know I'm 60 years old, right,
Henry? But I need 15 more. I haven't learned a thing. I've
taken 60 years and I haven't learned the ABCs. Make me to
know the way of thy precepts. So shall I talk. Look at that. So shall I talk of thy wondrous
works. Oh boy, I'll tell everybody who
did this. I'll teach them diligently to
my children, and talk of them when I sit in my house, and when
I walk by the way, when I lie down, and when I rise up, I'll
bind them for a sign on my hand. That is, I'll actually have them
in my hand, the Word. And as frontlets before my eyes,
Lord, teach me, show me, make me by your grace. I will set
my heart unto all thy words, which I shall command my children
to do, all the works of thy law. For it is not a vain thing, it
is my life, it is the word of life. So shall I talk of thy
wondrous works." Whenever I hear, we went a long
ways, didn't There you are. We went a long ways to hear eight
messages in the midst of a mountain and down in the middle of nowhere.
We traveled a long way. It's good. It's well worth it,
wasn't it? Oh, my soul. It's well worth it. And whenever
I hear that a man's going to be talking of the wondrous works
of Christ, if I can get there, I'm going to be there and count
on it. How about you? Because I'm indebted to the wondrous
works of Christ. I'm a debtor. Because this is the shape I get
into when I forget his wondrous works. Verse 28, my soul's melting
for heaviness. Heaviness. I get back to old
Mr. Wet-Eyes, doesn't know that our
hard hearts would melt. That God would take this word,
Ellen, and melt our hard hearts. It's going to take his power,
isn't it? It's going to take his power. He says, My soul melts
for heaven, and strengthen thou me according unto thy word. That's
Christ who is our strength. Christ who is our strength. And
we cry out unto him, O word of the living God, pick me up. and
carry me. I can't make it. I can't go with
them. I can't take a step. Isn't that
the way you feel, Pilate? All the time. I can't do anything. I can't say anything. I can't
live the Christian life like these men are telling me I ought
to live. I can't do it. Oh, word of God, help me. Help
me. Strengthen thou me. according
to thy word. And I tell you this, all strength,
all encouragement, all answers are to be found in God's word,
in Christ, and in the written word. Remove, look at this, this
is good, remove from me the way of lying. Remove from me the
way of lying. David said, I remember him saying
in one place, I said in my haste, all men are liars. Now he's saying,
I'm a liar. I live a lie. Do you feel that
way at times? I'm living a lie. Do you, Barbara? Do you feel that? I know you
do. I'm the chief. I came forth from the womb speaking
lies. I live a lie most of the time.
I live a lie to God. I live a lie to others. I live
a lie to myself. Do you feel that way, Stephen? I'm a hypocrite of the worst
sort. Do you feel that way, Jennifer? So false, the song says, so false
and full of sin I am, but thou art full of truth and grace. Remove from me the way of lying.
Would you make me a true man? Would you make me a Nathanael?
I'd like to be Nathanael, wouldn't you, John? Christ said of Nathanael,
there's a man with no guile, no hypocrisy. Wouldn't you like
to be that way? I get tired of living a lie,
I get tired of my hypocrisy. Remove from me this lie. Grant me thy law graciously,
and that's what it's going to take. Thy word have I hidden
in my heart, the law of God, the word of God. the scriptures,
convict me, reprove me, rebuke me, correct me with all law and
subject, all scriptures are profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness. I need it! I need
it! That's the reason I urge, I exhort,
I admonish over and over, be here, be here! I'm not saying
it for my sake, just so more people can hear my sermon. It's
not it at all. I know that this is our only
help, our only strength. And when I see somebody out from
under the sound of the balm of Gilead, they're going to get
sick. I know it. When I see somebody
that's obviously starving from spiritual malnutrition, I think,
come to the table. Oh boy. Verse 30, I have chosen
the way of truth. Thy judgments have I laid before
me. I have chosen the way of truth. Thy judgments have I laid
before me. I tell you what, the song says,
"'Tis not that I did choose thee, for, Lord, that could not be. Spurgeon said it, I'll repeat
it again. He said, I know that God had
to choose me before the foundation of the world. I know he had to
elect me before the foundation of the world. Because if he had
elected me until after I was born, he would have never chosen
me again. If he had waited to see what
I was going to do, he would have never chosen me. God would have never
done it. I'm dead on trespass. He had to choose me and set his
love and affection upon me and decide to do something for me,
do everything for me. So it's not that a man chooses
God first. You need to ask yourself this
question based upon the scriptures. Here's a good, if you have trouble
with election in the scriptures, you need to ask yourself this
question according to the scriptures. Ask yourself these three questions. You call yourself a believer,
a Christian. Let me ask you this. Did you choose God or did he
choose you? According to the scriptures now,
man needs to answer that. I don't care what he thinks.
Don't tell me what you think. God says, my ways are not your
ways, my thoughts are not your thoughts. Don't tell me what
you think. Tell me what God's word says about it. Did we choose
him or did he choose us? According to the scripture. Well,
the scripture says in Ephesians 1, 4, according as he hath chosen
us. Answer number one. If we're saved,
it's because God first chose us. We love him because he first
loved us, right? Well, second question, then when
did God choose you? According to the scriptures,
after you believed. That's what they say about election,
don't they? Here's election, they say that
God votes for you, and the devil votes against you, and you cast
a deciding vote. Where in the world did they get
that? When the election was held, we
weren't around, and the devil didn't have any voting rights. When did he choose you then?
If God chose us, then when did he do it? According to the scriptures.
Let's hear that. I don't care what we say. I don't
care our clever little sayings. What does the scripture say?
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world. Question number three, why did
he choose you? If God elected you unto salvation,
God chose you, why did he do it? Because of fresh set of teeth? Because of your goodness? Because
of your works? Because of your morality? Because
you were better than everybody else? Because you believed on
Jesus? No, that's the gift of God, Ephesians
2a. According to the scriptures, what does it say? Why God chose
us? Well, I hear what it says. Because
it's according to the good pleasure of his will. Just because he
wanted. I don't have any problem with that.
Do you? It's God's Word. I love it. Because like Spurgeon, like that
little illustration I just gave you, if he hadn't chosen me,
I sure never would have chosen him. Because like Isaiah 53 says,
all we like sheep have gone astray, everyone gone our own way. And
unless he had chosen me and went out and found me, you see, I
was lost. I wasn't looking for the way,
I was lost. And unless he found me, Charles,
I'd have never been found. I was running the other direction
as hard as I could. That's what it means to be lost. You know
what it means to be found? It means somebody came to you.
and found you and rescued you. You don't get any credit for
it, do you?" He said, I cried out, and he heard me. You call on him because he first
called on you. You weren't even calling. You
didn't know you were lost, right? You didn't know you were lost
until he said, hey, you're lost, sheep. He said, hey, I am lost. Lord, save me. Is that clear who does the choosing?
But I tell you what, there's a real sense in which we choose
him after the fact, after he does the choosing. But after he chooses us, and
in the day of his power, his saving power, the day he decides
to open our eyes, to give us life. We're made willing, you
see? We're made willing. It ain't
free. Our will is according to our
nature. Horses eat grain. Lions eat meat. The scripture
says man drinks iniquity like the water. Man will only do,
man will only will what his nature allows him to do. And the scripture
says we're dead in trespasses and sins. We'll only will what's
evil. God's got to change the will.
God's got to change the will. from a will to evil and sin to
a will toward God. We don't do that. Oh, no. We don't do that. But in the day of his power,
we're made willing and we choose him. Yes, there's a real sin. I chose to be here tonight. Yeah,
I did, according to the grace and the mercy of God Almighty.
But I chose, Rick, I'm here because I want to be. But he gave me
the want to. But I am here because I want
to be. Explain that to me. Explain that to me, would you?
That's sovereignty and responsibility. But we know who gets all the
glory, don't we? Who gets all the honor in this
thing. Salvation is of the Lord. From his calling to our calling.
We never take any credit for it. Even our faith is a gift.
And this choosing on our part, like David said, I've chosen
the way of truth. We do choose, we do choose, but
because he first chose us. We do love him, but because he
first loved us. Thy judgments have I laid before
me, and I'll hurry on, let's finish here. I've stuck unto
thy testimonies. I tell you what, I've stuck unto
his testimonies. In other words, I believe what
he's saying here is that I'm going to stick to thy testimony.
This is where I intend to stay. It says this is where I intend
to stay. How about you? I do. I believe I'll stick with
the gospel if he'll stick me. If he'll stick me with the glue
of his grace, I'll stay here by his grace. But I intend to
stay with Christ. I intend to stay with Christ
if he'll stay with me. Stay with God's people. And once
again, like I said, this is not the idle boast of some religious
hypocrite. This is a heartfelt desire of
a man who really and truly loves God and wants to stay with God.
And look at this, the last verse. Rick, doesn't this sound just
like, let's see, down in verse 8? Sounds just like it. He says,
I'm going to run away of thy commandments. Yeah, I will, when
you have changed my heart. I tell you what, a man or a woman
better, what's the word for it? He better include that in there.
He can say it with all his heart, like Peter, Lord, I do love you. You know all things. What love
I have, you gave it to me. Like John, you say, I only love
you because you first loved me. Like Jacob, you say, I'll not
let you go if you want to go away. Oh, Lord, put me not to shame.
I'll run the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart. when you enlarge my heart." There's
another one of those verses that speaks of the heart. Salvation
is a heart religion. Like I said this morning, you
don't go to church, we don't go to church. Don't get up, don't
ever tell anybody that, I'm going to church. If you're in Christ,
you're the body of Christ, if you're in Christ by faith, you
are the church. You are the church. You don't go to church. Salvation
is a heart work. It begins on the inside. Not
like the Pharisees who clean up their outward cup when within,
they're full of extortion and exile. They're not whited sepulchers. There are a lot of those. A lot
of church members who are just whited sepulchers. They appear
to be good Christians. They draw near like Christ said
with their lips when their heart is far from them. Salvation is
a heart work. It starts within there. And that
needs to be the first cry of our hearts. Oh Lord. My soul,
my heart cleaves under the dust. Would you quicken me? Give me
real life. Your words are life. They're
spirit. They're life. Would you speak them to me? Your
precepts, your commandments, your statutes, your judgments. Oh, Lord, quicken me according
to Christ. Raise me up to walk in newness
of life with Christ, my Lord. Stand with me. you