Psalm 33. I want to read two verses of Scripture in Psalm 33. Let's read verse
8 and verse 18. Psalm 33, 8, Let all the earth
fear the Lord. Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the
world stand in awe of him. Verse 18, Behold, the eye of
the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy. Perhaps the greatest. The greatest theologian or. At least one of the men whom
God used the greatest. One of the greatest this country
has ever known, maybe the world. Was a man named Jonathan Edwards. Jonathan Edwards, many of you
may know the name. He was called and has been called
the Isaiah of this generation. He preached during the years,
the early 1700s, during the years 1735 and 1736 at the age of 32
years old. After having been a pastor for
seven or eight years, the Lord began doing a marvelous work
among the people in the town where he pastored, Northampton,
Massachusetts. It is now what happened in those
two years, 1935 and 36, is what is now referred to or known as The great awakening in this country. And it started there and it spread
throughout at least New England and. Some of the southern states. Now this great awakening. This great revival. This came during the ordinary. Every. Sunday and Wednesday preaching
of a local pastor. Ordinary. Not in its message,
but just the everyday preaching, faithful preaching of the gospel
by a local pastor. Jonathan Edwards was not what
you would call a gifted preacher. If you think my preaching is
dull and hard to listen to, and grow weary of it and mesmerized
by my voice you would have a hard time if the Lord wasn't pleased
to awaken you you would have a hard time listening to Jonathan
Edwards as well as many of those old preachers he preached if
it were in the evening when it was growing dark he would preach
holding a candle holding a candle in his hand and would read word
for word from a manuscript that he had handwritten every word
read word for word. But yes. The Lord used this man
preaching to bring about a great awakening in the land a great
revival. Now it was not the outcome this
awakening was not the outcome of a well organized highly advertised
evangelistic effort like you see going on today like the Billy
Graham crusade would be coming in a large town and they would
highly advertise and organize and gather up all these people
know. This was just the supernatural work, just the supernatural.
This was the supernatural work of God Almighty, the Holy Spirit,
through the preaching of the gospel and shaking a church,
perhaps something like this, a church and a whole community,
just because God said it's time to shake these people in their
boots. Now, this was true revival in the scriptural sin. I want
you to notice something about this, though. It's interesting
to note. There was no public invitation ever given. Never. No one was ever invited down
the front to make some kind of decision for Jesus. Never, never,
ever once for people to come forward, nor were there any counselors
waiting in the wings. to see who come and grab them
real fast and get some kind of profession out of them. No counselors
pulling a decision out of people. There were no healing crusades.
There weren't any dynamic, that's a popular word today, isn't it?
It's a dynamic, spirit-filled church here. No dynamic, spirit-filled,
so-called charismatic healing crusades. There were no special
gospel singing. There was no ridiculous religious
sideshows. Only the preaching of the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I do mean preaching of the
gospel of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm talking definitive,
clear, plain, doctrinal preaching of Jesus Christ and who he is
and what he did. Knowledge and understanding.
was given, and the reaction of the people from the preaching
of a man holding a candle reading a text. Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the
world stand in awe of him. Behold, the eye of the Lord The
reaction was the same as on the day of Pentecost. People gripped
with fear. People pricked in their hearts. Turn with me over there to Acts
chapter two. Acts chapter two. The people
were convicted of what? Sin. Our generation doesn't know the
meaning of the word. People were convicted of their
sin, singular sin and sins. They were pricked in their hearts
and they cried out upon hearing the gospel preached. They cried
out at Pentecost. They cried out then. And some
of us, by God's grace, have cried out, too. What are we going to
do, men and brethren? What shall we do? To be safe, genuine after they
were convicted of sin, genuine, sincere questions concerning
their salvation. They didn't have to go up in
a man and ask them questions, did they? I don't see where counselors
got them up front and said, now you believe you're a sinner,
don't you? Yeah, I suppose so. You believe Christ died on you?
Yeah, I suppose so. It wasn't a man asking them questions.
They were crying out for knowledge, for understanding. What must
we do? This is how the Holy Spirit works.
Convicts people of their sin through the preaching of the
Word, and they cry out, what are we going to do? They cry
out for mercy, for help, for salvation. Help! They cry out
for help. A man doesn't have to tell them,
I'll help you if you'll let me. Look out here in Acts chapter
2 verse 41. It says, after they that gladly received his word. Now, there's a first reaction.
They received the word. They didn't balk. They didn't
butt. They didn't argue. Whatever this apostle said, and
he said a lot on this. He talked about the lordship
of Christ, the sovereignty of God, and so forth. And they didn't butt and balk
and and rebel against they received it as being not from the word
of a man but the word of God. They received it and it says
they that received his word were baptized. They were baptized
they publicly confessed the Lord Jesus Christ in a pool of water
confessing before all and it meant something it cost something
to be baptized back then. It doesn't now, it's pretty much
an everyday occurrence. As a matter of fact, they sprinkle
infants. And the same day were added three
thousand souls, and they, look at this, this reaction, and they
continued steadfastly, look at this, in the apostles' doctrine, in the apostles' doctrine, now
I heard a man, an Englishman, preach from this passage, who
never got around to telling what the doctrine was. And some of you heard the same
man. They continued steadfastly in the doctrine, that is, they
believe with all their hearts what the apostles preached to
them from God's Word, that God is sovereign, that man is dead
in trespasses and sins, that God had to elect a people or
they would not be saved. But all who he did elect they
will be saved." They believed and preached, and the people
received a particular effectual saving redemption, the blood
of Jesus Christ. Right? They believed in an all-powerful,
sovereign, effectual, irresistible, yea, an all-powerful, sovereign,
effectual Holy Spirit who does the work, and all of the work,
and finishes the work. And they believed everybody that
was in the grace of God, once in grace, they were going to
always be in the grace of God. They continued steadfastly, and
weren't, they were unmoved from this, this ground, and grounded
and settled in this truth. And it says they continued in
fellowship. See that? Fellowship. They did not forsake
the assembly themselves together. They weren't seen. They didn't
make a profession of faith, join a church and baptize, put their
name on a roll, and then they were gone, never heard from again.
No. Their fellowship, truly their
fellowship, their interest, their heart's desire, their affection
was set on things above. Now, all things, old things had
passed away. All things, their desires, their
heart had become new. Their affection was set on Christ.
They were new creatures in Christ. fellowship and breaking of bread. They partook of the Lord's table.
Yea, they counted it one of the greatest privileges on the top
side of God's earth, partake of this blessed and holy ordinance
which the Lord commanded that they partake of. They weren't
in disobedience to God and suffer because of it. They were obedient
to this divine command. This do. And they did, and they
counted it a blessing. And look at this, though. Here's
the special. Verse I want you to see. Verse 43, And fear, fear came upon every soul. You see that? Three thousand. Every single soul who received,
gladly received and heard the word of God or baptized believer,
they feared. This was the first true evidence
of their real conversion. Fear. Fear. They feared the Lord. They feared God. Fear came upon
every soul. Fear of what? Fear of man? There would have been plenty
of reason fear me and these people were persecuted and killed for
his sake. But no, they didn't. The fear of man wasn't a snare
to them. They were killed. They feared God. Turn with me
to Psalm 36. Psalm 36. Turn back there. The scripture says, now listen
to this, the scripture says the secret of the Lord is with them
that fear him. The secret of the Lord—now, the
gospel is called a mystery. It's been kept hid from the foundation
of the world. It's a secret. The natural man
doesn't receive it. It's foolishness to him, neither
can he understand it. It's foolishness. The secret,
the gospel, the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him. And he will show them—this is—I
didn't write the text down, I'm sorry. But it says, he will show
them his covenant. If you want the reference, I'll
look it up later. The secret of the Lord is with
them that fear him and he will show them, that is them and them
only, his covenant. That is covenant mercies, Salvation
we're talking about. There is no salvation without
first the heart being united or be stricken with this fear. This fear. It's important, Stan,
that we know what this is, don't we? Better still, it's important
we have it. But the fool, over and over it
says in the scriptures, the fool, he doesn't fear God. The scripture says they hated
knowledge and despised wisdom and instruction, so they don't
fear God. Look at Psalm 36 verse 1. The
transgression of the wicked says within my heart that there's
no fear of God before their eyes. And this is what Paul quoted
in Romans 3, 18. There's no fear of God before
their eyes, because they do all manner of things, wickedness
and lewdness, and what all goes on in this world, you know. It's
very plain, David said first. He says, it's very plain to me
that they don't fear God, else they wouldn't do what they do.
It's evident that the thief, the murderer, the rapist, the
homosexual, the openly immoral, and so forth, don't have a conscience.
You know, the law of God is a conscience written upon a heart to tell
a man what's good, what's evil, to tell a man when he's starting
to steal something, hey, you better not. Where's a man? How does he know what's good
and what's evil? The law of God. There is a God, an absolute holy
judge in the heavens, and he has put his law, his law is written
upon even in the heart of a of a native in the darkest jungle
knows that it's wrong to take his wife or his neighbor's wife. How does he know that? The law
of God. But it says, in the last days
their consciences will be seared with a hot iron. In other words,
the more you sear or stifle or reject the conscience, the less
it is there, the less it bothers you. The less it bothers you. But God has put this conscience
upon to fear to do wicked. Well, it tells me, David said,
and Paul said, and this Paul says, that because of what men
do openly in the sight of this almighty judge of the universe
before whom all men will stand and give an account for the things
done in their body upon this earth, it tells me that there's
no fear of God. God who? God who? There is no God, they say. But
there's a worse wickedness. That's bad enough. But there's
a worse wickedness that proves no fear. There's a worse wickedness
and transgression. That is, a transgression of the
wicked says, within my heart, there's no fear of God before
their eyes. There's a fearlessness. There's a wickedness going on.
that I'm going to call religious wickedness. Now turn with me
over to Isaiah chapter 29. Isaiah chapter 29. Religious wickedness. It's all
of this, and you see it, and I harp on it quite a bit. Why? Because it goes on quite a bit.
And it needs to be harped on. It needs to be exposed. I know
we have a pretty good understanding, but I just not want to take it
for granted that I believe some of us even are sometimes taken
in by what goes on. That's what Christ said. He said,
if they're so close, these false prophets, false Christ, he said,
if it were possible, They're so close that it would deceive
the very elect. Now, all of this foolish and ridiculous nonsense
that goes on today in the name of God is utterly despicable
and abominable to God Almighty. Look at Isaiah 29, verse 9 with
me. Stay yourselves, he said. Stand
still, in other words. Just hold it right there. I want
you to see something he's saying. Isaiah, and this is what Jonathan
Edwards preached. He said, wait, I just want you
to see something here. Stay and wonder. Verse 9. Cry out and cry. They're drunken. These people are drunken, but
not with wine. Isn't that what they accused
Peter of? day of Pentecost. Well, these men are drunk. He
said, men and brethren, we're not drunk, as some would say.
It's just the third hour of the day. You know what he said? It's
just nine o'clock in the morning. We're not drunk. But he says here, these fellows
are drunken, but it's not with wine. Verse 10, look at it. Everyone is reeling to and fro,
staggering around, because the Lord hath poured out upon them
the spirit of sleep, deep sleep. They say it's the spirit, don't
they? All of this nonsense and rigamarole that goes on and that.
You've seen it, you know. You know, people faking it. You've seen it. You see it going
on all the time. Praise Jesus. Amen. Amen, brother.
Hallelujah. I can't say two words without
drumming this up. Amen, brother. Hallelujah. It's
a pretty day. Amen. Hallelujah. Dog died. Amen. Hallelujah. Praise the
Lord, brother. I'm taking the Lord's name in
vain by repeating them. But you see it, you hear it, all this
nonsense going on today. It's captivating this world.
It's taking this world by storm. Charismatic, Pentecostalism,
it's taking the world by storm. You can't have a church, so-called,
anymore unless you've got some charisma going on, something
going on, some kind of show of religion. I'm here to tell you
that doesn't have a thing to do with it. Feelings come, feelings
go. You take a pill and you get a
feeling. You get real happy. You get as happy as you want
to get. Take two pills and, man, you'll be slain in the Spirit. Be full of Spirit. Drink Jack
Daniels. Be full of Spirit, won't you? The Lord hath poured on them
that what's going on today, you'll see it right here very plainly,
is a spirit of deep sleep. They're talking in their sleep.
They're walking in their sleep. A spirit of deep sleep. A mind
void of what? Understanding. There's no knowledge. Didn't the scripture say that
people are destroyed for lack of knowledge? Right? Knowledge. Lack of the truth. Lack of true biblical exposition,
verse by verse, expounding of the scripture. Doctrinal truth. Lack of that, therefore, destroyed,
the Scripture says, for lack of that. For lack of that. Lack of true gospel preaching.
The Scripture describes it line upon line, line upon line, precept
upon precept, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little,
here a little, there a little, brick upon brick, seed upon seed, so
in the Word, so in the Word, verse after verse, verse after
verse. And a natural man gets tired of that. We want something
exciting, you know. This is not exciting enough.
You're not holding my attention, preacher. Dance or something."
So he whoops and dances and shouts every now and then. Do something,
you know. It's just preaching. It's dull and dry. Not to God's
people, it's not. Not to whom the Holy Spirit breaks
the heart and shows, hey, this is food. This is seed from the
sower. But they said they're drunk.
Now look at verse 11 and 12 with me. And the vision, look at this.
We read this something similar over in Jeremiah 23 last week,
didn't we? The vision of all is become unto
you as the words of a book that's sealed. You remember reading
that over in Jeremiah 23 where it says that they hide, they
think to keep back my word from the people by telling their dreams?
Oh, they've got a few pet verses. A few pet verses, don't they?
I don't know much about the Bible. God so loved the world, you know.
John 3, 16. Whosoever will. I don't know where that's found,
but it says that somewhere, you know. Whosoever will. That's
it. And it's Parroth's preaching
brother. Amen. Hallelujah. Everybody has a Bible, it says,
but it's a sealed book. It's closed. It's not open. You
see a few, a few, but they're twisting it. Peter said they're
twisting it and distorting it and corrupting it to their own
destruction. Everybody has a Bible, but they
don't know what it says. And then it says that they draw near
with their lips, but their heart is far from them. Look at that
in Isaiah 29, verse 13. Wherefore, the Lord said, Now, here's the key verse. The
Lord said, for as much as this people draws near me with their
mouth. Now, it's going on, and I've
just been mimicking and mocking what I always said and going
on today, haven't I? All of this religious jargon
and rhetoric and so forth. They draw near with their mouth,
and with their lips they do honor me. Everybody's saying praise
Jesus, aren't they? Well, look at here what the Lord
answers. But they have removed their heart far from me. Their heart is far from me. Their
fear, now look at this, their fear, or what they call fear,
or what is supposed to be fear toward me, is taught by the precept
of men. They're saying now. In other
words, they're saying now. that God is all love, that there's
no wrath. God is no wrath anymore. Kenneth,
Copeland, Hagen, all of them, just every single one of them,
modern fundamental preaching, has totally turned the fear of
God around. There's no need. Deborah, you
don't need to fear God anymore. God loves you now, doesn't He? You don't need to fear God. That's
the God of the Old Testament. This is now we're under grace,
you see. Back then, God was austere and
unbending and wouldn't tolerate iniquity, would by no means clear
the guilty. Now he will. Now he loves you
because of Jesus and Christ, and he wants you, needs you,
and if you'll only let him. Fear of God is taught by their
notions in the precepts and the teachings of men. This is what
we think. I know it says that, Violet, right? I know it says
that you're supposed to fear the Lord. But this is what that
means. I heard old Jim Baker one time. Man, that man's where he ought
to be. Right now, anyway. He was dealing with 1 Timothy
2. Is it talking about the women
keep silence in the church? And he said, no, the scripture
that says, uh, no, it's first Corinthians 14 and first Corinthians
14, John, where, uh, Paul said, it's not permitted for a woman
to speak, let them keep silence in the church. God's not the
author of confusion. Or Jim said, now what that means
is he said, what that means is everybody was talking all at
the same time. He said, now you women, you worship. Well, I'll
let the men do the talking. All you women, hush up and let
the men do a little bit of talking now." He said, that's the reason
you need to study and show yourself a proof, see? You see? Oh boy, what did I bring that
up for? But this is what they're saying,
you know. They're taking the plainest of scriptures and twisting
it around, making it say what they want it to say. The fear
of God, or what is supposed to be the fear of God, Look it up,
folks. Get you a concordance sometime.
Look up the fear of the Lord. Go through the Scriptures and
look it up, the fear of the Lord. I think it's 265 times. Has that
changed? According to Manatee, it's taught
by the precept of men now, according to their foolish notions and
all. But I want to tell you this morning, very briefly, for the
rest of this 45 minutes, what this book says about the fear
of God. All right, will you stay with me a minute? Turn back to
the text in Psalm 33. Turn back with me. Psalm 33,
and I won't keep you very long. Instruction, I'm instructing
you from the Word. I'm preaching the Word in season.
I'm preaching the Word. I'm being true. I'm giving you
doctrine, the Apostle's doctrine. OK? Instructive preaching. God said in Malachi three six
Malachi three six you know that my heart. God said. I'm the Lord. Can you say the
rest of it. Say it. Say it. Somebody say
it. I'm the Lord. Again say it with me again out
loud I'm the Lord. I change not." Isn't he? That was in the Old Testament. Did he mean it? Is he different now? He said,
I'm the Lord, I change not. Therefore, you sons of that worm,
are not consumed. You worms crawling around the
earth, grasshoppers, maggots, vanity, less than that, are not
consumed. Now, God was not one way in the
Old Testament and a different way in the New. This is what
they're saying. This is what they call dispensational
religion. that God dealt with men differently
in different eras. This is dispensational. It's
a lie to hell. It's a doctrine of the devil.
Dispensational religion. They say, God treated men one
way then and He treats men differently now. No, that's not what Malachi
3, 6 says, is it? I am the Lord. I change not. God doesn't deal differently
with men now than He did then. He says, I don't change. Once more, with feeling, the
chief and principal attribute and characteristic of God Almighty,
always has, always will be, is what? Holiness. He said, I don't
change. He's holy. He's righteous. Look
at verse 4. The word of the Lord is right.
What word? The Old Testament. The New Testament. The Word is
one. The Lord our God is one God.
His Word, anything He speaks is His Word in it. Whether it
was revealed back then or revealed now, it's the same book. We don't
have the Old Bible or the New Bible. We've got a Bible. We've
got one Word. We've got the Word of God. And
it all is joined together to say one thing. God's on the throne. Man's in the dust. Better bow
and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, I don't change. I'm holy. I'm righteous. He loveth... All the Word of God is right,
true, applicable even now. All the works of God are done
in truth according to His predetermined counsel and plan. It works all
things together according to His divine, eternal purpose.
His power, look at verse 6 and 7. The word of the Lord, by the
word of the Lord, the heavens were made. I don't care what
evolution and modern science says. God just spoke and it came
into existence. By the word of the Lord, the
heavens were made. And Peter said, over in 2 Peter 3, he said,
by the same word now is this world kept in store, reserved
under wrath in that fiery day of judgment. By the same word,
God says, let there be peace for a while, right now. The holy
angels and cherubims with their flaming swords of vengeance,
according to Revelation, God is staying in their hand right
now. They're ready to go, to smite the four corners of the
earth. And God says by the same word,
wait, wait, it's not time yet, wait, it's not time yet. By the word of the Lord, the
heavens were made, and by the word of the Lord right now, it's
kept from being destroyed and being made again. And all the
host of them by the breath of his mouth, verse 7, he gathered
the waters of the sea together like a heap. Yes, the Atlantic,
the Mediterranean, the Baltic, the Pacific, God put in a bucket.
That's how big he is, that's how powerful he is. The world
was once overrun with water. God said, let there be an Atlantic. Let there be a Pacific. Let there
be a Gulf of Mexico. And there was. That's foolishness. That's what the fool says. No
God. He gathered the waters of the sea together as a heap. He
lays up the depths and storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord.
Why should I? Oh, don't you see? Don't you see? The God who controls
the raging billows of the mighty Atlantic Ocean, and He walked
this earth one day. And a few men got a glimpse of
who He was, what His power was. He was asleep on a boat. And
the waves were crashing over the bow. Have you ever been on
a boat in a storm? I have. Ten-foot waves crashing. You feel like the most helpless.
You feel like an ant, a gnat. Nothing's going to help you.
Nothing and nobody could save you from those raging billows.
That's what was going on on that boat one day when God was on
it. And God woke up. Explain that to me. Christ walked
up on the bow of that ship and said, now you push up water.
And it laid down like a farm pond. And those men saw, just
for an instance, what manner of man. And fear came upon them,
didn't it? Peter said, Lord, I'm a sinful
man. Depart from me. You're the holy,
righteous, all-powerful God. And you know you see Him. Isn't
that what Nathanael did when he appeared before God? Before
Christ, Christ said, I saw you sitting under the tree over there.
When he was out of sight over the hill a mile away, Nathaniel
said, Oh, I'm in the presence of almighty majesty and power. Now, if he knows, if he controls
the waters, if he made the world, what about this puny pinhead
little human being? What can he do with me? What
he wants to, can't he? You see why we need to fear this
God first and foremost. You don't just run up and... I've used these same illustrations,
but they work. As if I was cutting my grass,
I'm going to cut my grass and anything in the path of my lawnmower
is going to be mown down. Now here's an anthill over here.
Here's an anthill. I've got a job to do. I'm going
to get my grass cut according to the good pleasure of my own
will. I'm going to cut my grass. I want my yard to look nice.
Here's an anthill over here full of ants. They're poor little
creatures, aren't they? They deserve to live. No, they
don't. They're on my property. They're messing it up. They'll
ruin your grass, won't they? Ants. I'm cutting my grass, and
I'm going to mow over one of them. And one of them steps down
and says, Wait! I've decided. Hey, you! I've decided to let
you be lord and master over my property. I'm going to commit
all I've got to you. Well, I'm going to burn it, buddy.
I'm going to cut it down. And you're going to die with
it. That ain't the way you do it. What if one of them started
running out? Oh, mercy, mercy, mercy! Huh? What do you think
I'd do, being a good and somewhat good and kind and merciful, tender
human being that I am? What do you think I'd do? Whoa,
wait a minute now. Hey, little feller. Now, I won't
hurt you. Why? He was afraid. He cried out for mercy. He didn't
let me do it. He can't let me do a thing, can
he? All he can do is cry out for
mercy. Don't cut me down. I'm undone. I dwell in the midst
of another people of answer. I'm undone. We're going to be
destroyed. Please have mercy on me. So I set him over here
under a rock. I ain't about to cut a rock with
my lawnmower. And I cut the rest of them down,
mow them down, save one, according to the good pleasure of my own
will, because he cried out for mercy. Why should we fear God? Because
he's fearful. The God, Daniel said, the God
in whose hands your breath is. You ever thought about that? Everybody in here is breathing. Why? She just took two. Well, I thought,
why? What's your heart's beating?
Hey, John, your heart's beating. What in the world makes your
heart beat, buddy? Some people just stop. Some people,
inexplicable, they say die to natural causes. Yeah, I know
what the cause is. It ain't natural. God's the cause. He said, I kill,
I make light. Why is your heart beating, Steve
Park? God. It's upheld by the Word of His
power. Let Steve Park's heart beat. Let him breathe. It's my air. I'll let him breathe
it a while. The God in his hands, you'll
blame me as the scripture says, thou hast not glorified. The Scripture says, "...the God
of whose hands your breath is, thou hast not glorified." In
other words, men, mankind in general, most people by nature,
do not give God who gives them the breath, do not give Him a
passing thought. He lets them keep on breathing.
Every breath is a stay of judgment. Every beat of the heart is a
stay of eternal condemnation. Don't believe it? Then put your
hand over your mouth. Find out. Kill yourself. Find out. We'll find out, won't we? It used to be fair, didn't it? I haven't glorified Him, Terry.
I mean I. I mean us. I mean we. We have not glorified
Him like we ought to have. We haven't lived for God's glory.
We haven't thanked God like we—some of us aren't thanking God yet.
Could give a flip. about God Almighty and Carolin.
They're here because we're forced to, here to be seen or whatever
it may be. Whatever reason it may be. There's still some people
in here right now. I don't know why you're here.
I do know why you're here. You're here because God brought
you here. But I tell you, unless you bow until you see who God
is and you're in His hands and bow before Him and cry out for
mercy in Christ, you're a goner. And this is adding to your condemnation.
Me too. If I'm just a hypocrite, if I'm
just blowing so much hot air right now, this is adding to
my condemnation. Because God is God and my breath
is in his hand and I haven't glorified him like I ought to. It says he sees us. Look at verse
13. The Lord looks from heaven, he
beholds all the sons of men. Why is most crime and so forth,
why does it go on at night time? Why do the gangs, street gangs
come out and everything at night time? Why do we do what we do
at night or whatever? Like bugs and creeping and crawling
things, bats come out at night. Why? Under the cover of darkness,
you know. Nobody sees me. The only one that matters sees
us. It doesn't matter whether a man
sees me or not. It doesn't matter whether they speak well of me
or speak evil of me or not. What does matter is the one who
sees all, knows all, reads the heart and the thoughts. Now,
he sees me always. Isn't that what it says? Isn't
that what it says? The Lord beholds all the sons
of men from the place of his habitation. He looks upon the
inhabitants of the earth. He fashions their heart. He knows
every heart. He looks upon them. He considers all their works.
He sees what's going on, doesn't he? Wouldn't the fear of the Lord
be a wise thing? That's the reason David says
in the psalm, Lord, teach my heart to fear your name, or I
might not sin against you. John, if we rightly feared the
Lord like we ought to, we wouldn't sin against Him. If an unbeliever really ought
to fear the Lord like he ought to, he wouldn't go another day,
another Sunday, without calling on the Lord for mercy. Right? Oh, yeah. He sees me, considers
my works. All right. Does anybody fear
God a little bit yet? I wish somebody would cry out
right now, right now for the first time. You talk about music,
you talk about revival. If somebody would cry out right
now for the first time, Oh, what am I going to do? I don't know
this God. I don't know this Christ. And obviously, I'm in this God's
hands. What must we do? That's what
they said at Pentecost. We can't do a thing. Look at
verse 16. We can't do a thing. There's
no king saved by a multitude of hosts. A king. I don't care
what your position is. I don't care what your station
in life is, your name, rank or serial number is. It means nothing
to God. It means nothing. All are grasshoppers. A king or a pauper is nothing. They've both got to cry out for
mercy. They both are in need of the same thing. It doesn't
matter if you're religious or irreligious. You still need Christ.
It doesn't matter if you've lived a life full of sin or if you've
lived a fairly moral life. You still need Christ. I'm not
sure which one needs Christ the most. They both need Him. The
sinner, Christ said, I came to call a sinner, a man who's lived
an immoral woman, who's lived an immoral life. He said, I came
to call those, and I'm going to call them. But the self-righteous,
pious, upright, moral man whose liquor's never touched his lips,
he may be too far gone. He may be a reprobate. Christ
said, I've not come to call righteous. I ain't going to call them. Leave
them alone. They're OK. They're righteous. They think
they got it all wrapped up. But he said, I sure come to call
sinners. Now, let me tell you something. If nobody hears anything
I say this morning, I don't care where you are or what you've
done or what you've been through, your reputation or whatever.
I tell you, if you knew, it's God that's talking about it this
morning. This would mean something, what
I'm about to say. I don't care where you are or what you've
been or what you're doing right now, what you're going through.
You call upon God Almighty for mercy, get Him to show you who
Christ is, and He'll save your eternal soul. I don't care how good you are,
how good we are, how good I am, I tell you daily, I look pretty
good to you all, I know that. I'm the epitome of what you'd
call a religionist, a preacher of that. But I tell you, every
morning when I wake up, I've got to scream and cry for mercy,
because I'm a wretched, no good, hypocrite, and a vile sinner.
And I've got to cry out for mercy daily. Lord, spare me. According
to the blood and the righteousness of Jesus Christ, Lord, spare
me. And I know if you hadn't called at all, I know you need
the same thing. He says you can't run from God either. You can't
get on a horse and fly for safety. Verse 17. Neither can any man
be delivered by his strength, not by your resolve, not by strength
of mind or purpose, not by the deeds of the law, not by morality. In the flesh, no man can please
God, not according to what you do on this earth. Go to church,
go to Sunday school, witness for Jesus. It doesn't help, does
it, John? I don't care what you do, how zealous you are for the
Lord. John, Paul said they're zealous. I know they've got a
zeal, but it's not according to knowledge, and they're perishing.
for lack of this knowledge, not by works of righteousness which
we have done. We can't run from God either.
Verse 18. Here it is. Here's the answer
to this whole message. The eye of the Lord is upon them that
fear Him, upon them that hope in His mercy. Do you need mercy? Huh? Do you need mercy? I do. I don't know about you, but I
do. Not many people, you and I are talking about this, Mindy,
talking about this thing of wanting to talk to people about the gospel.
You who have tried, you can't find many people, can you? It's
hard to find somebody. If you read that article by Warburton,
it's hard to find anybody who wants to talk about the gospel.
Even back then, 200 years ago, he said the same thing. Ain't
nobody interested. Terry, you run across many people
who want to know the truth. They want to know why you got
curtains in your building. They want to know. how you dress,
and what kind of songs you sing, and all this foolish question,
endless question, endless question, question, question, question.
But you run into anybody who wants to talk about salvation,
wants to talk about righteousness, perpetuation, mercy, grace, goodness,
huh? The mercy seed. Do you run into
anybody like that? Huh? Mercy? And not many people
really need mercy. Why? Because only the guilty
need mercy. This is where I started this
message out. At Pentecost, the way God the Holy Spirit first
moved and the way He moves upon every single heart He touches
and is going to save is in fear of God. To see His holy, sovereign
power in there in His hands and can do with Him what He will,
what He wants to. And then they bow and cry out
for mercy to Him. Show me mercy. Good to God. Somebody see that
need. Our children, Joe. Somebody see
that need for the first time. Mercy. I need mercy at the hands
of this God. I've heard this all my life.
But I need it. Now see, I need it. Because I haven't glorified
God. Let me tell you where mercy is
found real fast. Where's mercy found? Just in the fact you cry
out for it. We'll look at it. Verse 20. He's
going to deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in
famine. Our soul waited for the Lord. He is our help and our
shield. Who's the Lord? Who's the Lord? The Lord Jesus Christ. Our soul waited for the Lord.
The Lord Jesus Christ is a man, is a woman, is a young person's
only help and hope. and shield and covering. He's
their only help. That is their only safety and
security from condemnation. He's their only shield. He's
their only covering, righteous covering. He says, Our hearts
shall rejoice in Him. We've trusted in His holy name,
the Lord. We don't make Him Lord. He is
Lord. And we bow before His sovereign presence. That means Savior,
and that means Savior. Call his name Jesus, the angels
heralded. They're the first one that said
it. Call his name Jesus because why? He shall save his people
from their sin. Our hope is in thy name. We've
trusted in his name. We're not just saying it. We're
not just repeating it. Say after me, repeat after me,
hocus pocus, dominocus. No, our hope and our trust is
in this man. He's the Lord. He saves whom
he will. But he also said whoever comes
to him. He's Jesus. He'll save. It's not up to me. He'll do the saving. He'll put
me on his back. A good shepherd will put me on
his back and take me all the way home. I don't have to do
a thing. Just ride. Just rest. Just hang on and rest
and enjoy the view. Christ is the Messiah. the mediator,
intercessor, the king, God's prince, the accepted one, the
anointed one of God. And I'm anointed and accepted
and a king and a priest with him. Our hope is in his name. Let your mercy, and I'll quit,
let your mercy, O Lord, be upon us. according as we hope indeed. Let your mercy be upon us according
as we hope indeed, according as we believe and trust and hope
and, yes, fear, fear the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I didn't preach this message with
necessarily what you'd call liberty, whatever that is. I don't know
if that's shouting or volume or whooping or dancing or whatever
that is. Liberty. I'll tell you what it
is. Liberty is being able to take and clearly define from
the Scriptures. It's God giving you thought. Liberty of preaching is being
able to define the gospel in no uncertain terms. Liberty of
hearing is being able to hear that and understand it. And receive
the word like they did at Pentecost gladly. Hey, yeah, that's right. That's true as the truth. Liberty,
freedom, the sun shall set you free, you'll be free indeed.
Now, I've clearly. Clearly, or tried to anyway,
clearly described to you. The first thing necessary. In
this thing of salvation. Fear. We're not hearing it today. You
don't hear it today. You'll not hear it today. Because
that Isaiah 929 says the fear of the Lord is taught by the
precept of men. They've twisted it and turned
it to make it say what they think it says. But I'm telling you,
Psalm 33H telling us that all the earth fear the Lord, that
all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. Because
verse 18 says, the mercy of the Lord is upon them that fear Him. The eye of the Lord is upon them
that fear Him, that hope in His mercy. So you call out the best
way you can. You call out to this God to reveal
who He is to you. Don't take any man's word for
it. Take God's word for it. Stand
with me, and I'll dismiss it. Dear Lord, What a treasure. What an awesome,
unspeakable gift this gospel, this Word, this Bible is. And
it's in earthen vessels, Lord. It's in such weak, pitiful, vain,
babbling vessels. It was so dependent upon Your
power and Your Holy Spirit to take it and apply it to the hearts
of the hearers. Lord, we ask You, just take one
word. Just take the word fear. and indelibly printed on the
minds and hearts of everybody in here that heard it this morning.
And let them not go away. Lord, don't leave us alone until You've taught
us Your fear and brought us to faith in Christ. It's in His
name. In the fear of the Lord and for
the glory and honor of His holy name, we pray. Amen.