Thank you. Open to the last book
of the Bible, the book of the Revelation of the Lord Jesus. Revelation chapter 6. Back in
chapter 5, God had a book in His right hand. That's the book of everything
He purposed to do. And our blessed Savior, having finished the work that God gave
Him to do, having bought His people with His blood, He bought
us from justice, He bought us from the law that held us captive. And it held us captive in a just
way. It was only right for the law
of God to hold us captive because we'd broken God's law. But our
Lord Jesus, He suffered the fullness of the penalty for all of our
sins. He died. In our stead, Scripture
says He redeemed us to God by His blood, by virtue of His prevailing
over our enemies, doing the work that God gave Him to do. And
He took the book of God, and as we get to Revelation chapter
6, He begins to loose the seven seals of the book. That is our everlasting surety. He's
executing God's will to magnify the name of the Father do all things for the good of
His people. And that gives us great comfort
to know that He's doing that. As He opens the first of the
seals in chapter 6, John sees a rider on a white horse. This is our Savior who is the
victor He rides on the gospel. He always rides on the gospel. The message of pure grace. Second
verse says it's a white horse and he sets on that a horse with
a bow. A bow is that which is meant
to deliver something. And it delivers errors out of
his quiver, errors of conviction, errors of grace, errors of great
love for his people that penetrate our hearts. And it says that In verse number
two, that something was given to him. It was a crown, the victor's
wreath. This is not the diadem crown. He wore that, he's worn that
from old eternity. This is the victor's crown. He won the victory at the cross. That's where the battle was fought.
That's where the war was won at the cross. At the cross. John said, I saw him. He goes
forth. He went forth. And he's conquering
and he still conquers. Now, he's been doing this ever
since he ascended back to heaven. He goes forth. seeking the lost,
finding them, bringing them into the fold of salvation by His
omnipotent grace. I tell you, His grace isn't weak.
His grace is effectual. His grace is strong. His grace
gets the job done. And He goes forth. He's conquering
all of His people. Back in chapter 5, He prevailed
over our enemies. Here in chapter 6, He's prevailing
over us. He's conquering us. It's a wonderful
thing when He comes forth with the heirs of conviction and the
heirs of grace and the heirs of mercy and the heirs of everlasting
love for His people and He conquers us. That's our Lord Jesus, the
rider on the white horse. He's still conquering today. He said in John chapter 10, He
said, O the sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also
I must bring. And I read that and I think in
terms of this, them also I must conquer. I must conquer them
too. He says there will be one fold
and one shepherd. Throughout this gospel age, that's
what our Lord Jesus is doing. And then John sees another horse
as the second of the seals is opened. In verse number 4, there
went out another horse, and it's red. It's red. And this, this rider on the red
horse, he's the one who brings division. He brings great conflict between people
in churches, families. He divides even friendships. The division is over the gospel.
It isn't over personalities. It's over the gospel. Wherever
the Lord goes forth with his gospel, He's always successful. But it always brings about this
result. You divide with people that you've
been, maybe had business friendships with, or business dealings with,
or great friendships, or even in the family. The Lord says,
this gospel brings a sword. And it divides people. It divides
people. We don't look for the division. We don't want the division as
far as that goes. But it just happens. It happens. The rider on the red horse, because
he always follows the rider on the white horse. Wherever the
gospel goes forth, there's bound to be, as a result, there's going
to be some divisions, there's going to be some disagreements,
because darkness, it just can't tolerate light. They just can't
do that. Righteousness cannot abide unrighteousness. The two can't get along together.
Error and truth. There is no peace between error
and truth. There's got to be division here.
Division. This gospel, it causes animosity
among people. People get upset. They get offended. Because you say, well, I'm saved
by the grace of God. Let me tell you, God did something
for me. Let me tell you some good news.
I heard Christ Jesus died on the cross for sinners. And I
hear He redeemed His people unto Himself. His precious blood has
washed away the sins of everybody who's brought to believe on Him.
And I've learned this salvation is all of grace. Well, what's
happened to a man like that? He got a visit from the rider
on the white horse. But then the individual you're
speaking to, they'll say something like this. So you're saying I'm
not saved? You're saying I'm not a Christian? I mean, you used to believe just
like me. Are you now saying that I don't
know God? They feel threatened. And so
there winds up a division. Our Lord Jesus said, I didn't
come to send peace, but a sword. A sword. And I tell you, if you're
looking for peace in this world, you're just not going to find
it. You're not going to find it in a literal way. You're not
going to find it in a spiritual way because there's a warfare
going on. It's a warfare. Darkness against
the light. There's a warfare in you. And
in me and in all of God's people. And so there's the second horse,
the rider on the red horse. I think about what was said there
in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 about the mystery of iniquity still
works. It still works. It's still committed
to opposing the gospel. The message of this salvation
by almighty free and sovereign grace rather than meeting a warm
reception From the vast majority of people in religion, they oppose
the message and they therefore will divide from you at least
to some extent. To some extent. You can't have
the fellowship anymore. And then this morning and this
evening again, let's talk about this black horse and the rider
on the black horse. from chapter 6, verses 5 and
6. And when he had opened the third
seal, I heard the third beast say, come and see. And I beheld and lo a black horse,
and he that sat on him had a pair of balances. He had scales in
his hands. I heard a voice in the midst
of the four beasts say, a measure of wheat for a penny. That is,
you work a day's labor and you get paid, and with your paycheck,
all you can buy with it is one quart of wheat. Enough for you. Three measures of barley for
a penny if you want a less expensive grain. That's what it'll cost
you. This is about 12 times the normal
rate, so somebody said. And then he says, but don't hurt
the oil and the wine. Don't hurt the oil and the wine.
And I endeavored by the grace of God this morning to try to
set before you this rider on the black horse that This sets forth the scarcity of the gospel. It isn't that there isn't gospel
to be found in this world. You can go places and thank God
you can find the gospel, but it's not in, let's put it this
way, it's not in big supply. It just isn't. Here and there
you'll find a gospel work, you'll find an oasis, an oasis in the
world. But you go through, you take
a journey, take a trip somewhere, go on vacation somewhere and
you'll start asking people, start asking preachers. You know of
anybody in that city preaching the gospel? No, I think that
Black Horse is That rioter's going through there. It's a famine
there. It's a famine. But now wait, remember this,
wherever there is a famine, It's still God's everlasting purpose. Don't ever forget this. As I
study this and I try to ask God for some understanding of this,
I always keep this in mind. Whatever happens in this world,
whether it's a rider on the white horse, the red horse, or the
black horse, Whether it's here sinners being saved by God's
grace, or here's a division that happens on account of the Lord
Jesus Christ, or if there's a matter of starvation of some people,
a great spiritual famine, whatever it is, it was written in the
book. You just don't ever lose sight
of that. It's written in the book. And
our Lord Jesus, He's the one who's breaking the seals and
bringing all of this to pass. Everything in the world is under
His control. You understand that? And if you
do, do you really grasp it and believe it? Believe it. Go back to Amos with me. We spent
a little time in Amos this morning, one of the minor prophets. And
I'd like for us to go back there tonight and visit the book of
Amos. And we're looking for this rider
on the black horse. Rider on the black horse. I want you to go to Amos chapter
6, first of all. Amos chapter 6. The Lord issued
to Amos a great warning that he was to give to the people.
Amos, if you know anything about Amos, you've studied Amos before,
this man, he was like a farmer. He's not a polished city preacher. He's a farmer. Very plain spoken. Nothing fancy about him. And God gives him a message.
God gives him a burden. And it's the burden of words
of judgment. Words of judgment directed toward
a people who had been greatly privileged of God to have mercy
after mercy after mercy given to them. And yet they just neglected
God's mercies. And they're just so comfortable
in their rebellion, in their sinfulness. It doesn't bother
them. They're not troubled at all.
And this is what He says in Amos chapter 6 and verse 1, Woe unto
them, Amos 6 verse 1, Woe unto them that are at ease in Zion. At ease. You're comfortable. You're comfortable. You're not
worried about anything. Now it's one thing to be at ease
in Christ Jesus, to be resting in Him. I do want
the peace of God and God does give to His people peace. We
have an assurance we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ. He speaks words of peace to us. He takes the Word of God. He takes the Gospel. And He blesses
us. And He whispers as it is, as
it was, into our hearts. And the Lord says, everything's
alright because I paid you, said Dad. And my righteousness, it
has been imputed to your account. You stand accepted before God
in the Beloved. He has said to us in the book
of Matthew chapter 11, Come unto me, all you that labor and are
heavy laden, I'll give you rest. and we rest in Him. You find
rest for your soul in Christ. Do you know anything about this
rest? Do you know anything about this
great peace that God gives to His people? Oh, how comforting
it is to hear the Word of God and it speaks directly to your
soul as though you're the only one God is speaking to. And He's
got a Word for you from this book right to your heart. It
isn't a preacher that's convinced you, it's not some writer that
you have read that's convinced you, but God Himself has taken
the live coal of His Word like He did to Isaiah, and He put
it on your lips, and it burnt its way right into your heart,
and then you have peace with God. Oh, that's wonderful. But
that's not what this ease is about. No. This is not the ease or the peace
of knowing that there is therefore now no condemnation to them who
are in Christ Jesus. It isn't that kind of peace.
This is like a security of the flesh. This is the ease of a
man on the brink of eternity. A man who's about to meet God.
A man who doesn't have a mediator. A man who doesn't have a Savior.
A man who's about to go out and meet a holy God in his filthy
rags of self-righteousness. And he's at ease. He's a madman. That's what he is. He's a fool.
He's a fool. At ease! At ease when there's
no Savior for you, there's no mediator to stand between you
and a holy God. No blood, no blood sprinkled
on the mercy seat for you. The Lord Jesus is not your hope
and your life and your righteousness and your all and you're at ease. Somebody preaches the gospel
to you and tells you about the beauties of Christ Jesus, His
loveliness. He's fairer than 10,000 to the
souls of His people. All the virtues of holiness and
purity are in Him. He is God, a very God, and He's
the very man Christ Jesus. And He lived and obeyed God's
law, and He died under the curse of God's law to save poor sinners
from their sins, from the wrath of God. And the preaching of
the gospel, it doesn't move you. The sweetness of the gospel,
that doesn't affect you. And the same preacher preaches
the wrath of God. If you go out in eternity, God's
going to send you to hell. Oh, you're going to perish. You're
going to perish. And that doesn't move you either.
That doesn't move you either. You're like those, the Lord Jesus
said, He said, I sent John the Baptist to you and you didn't
listen to him. You didn't like him. You said,
he's a weird fella. He's a loner. He's not very outgoing. He's not very friendly. Then
I came to you, and I'm outgoing. I go to your wedding feasts,
and I'm a very public figure. You don't like me either? You're
like children in the marketplace. They play sad music. I don't
like that music. Well, we play happy music. I
don't like that music either. The Lord says to you, I've sent
you prophets and preachers, you don't like any of them. You don't
like the message of the sweet gospel message, and you don't
like the message of wrath and condemnation either. You're at
ease. Nothing moves you. Nothing moves
you. Cardinal security. Then you get to chapter 7. I'll
tell you from chapter 7 through 9, The Lord gives to Amos five visions. Five visions about Israel. Vision number one, look at chapter
7, verse 1-3. Amos 7, verse 1-3. Thus hath the Lord God showed
unto me, and behold, he formed grasshoppers, in the beginning
of the shooting up of the ladder growth and lo, it was the ladder
growth after the king's mowings and it came to pass that when
they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I
said, Oh Lord, forgive these locusts, these grasshoppers,
they're eating everything. That's the judgment of God, you
see. And he says, oh, I beseech thee,
by whom shall Jacob arise? For he is small. And God, the
Lord repented for this. He said, it shall not be. God
said, okay, the judgment will stop. And they did right for
a while and they went right back into it. So, God sends to Amos
a second vision. Look at verse 4. Thus hath the
Lord God showed unto me, and behold, the Lord God He called
to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and did eat up
every part. Then said I, O Lord God, cease! I beseech Thee. By whom shall
Jacob arise? For he is small." In other words,
Amos is saying, Lord, show mercy. Don't cut them off. Don't destroy
the land. Don't destroy your people. In verse 6, the Lord repented for
this. He indicates a change of direction.
Of course, this God doesn't change. He speaks after the manner of
men. God just goes a different way. This also shall not be,
saith the Lord God." And, you know, judgment scared him a little
bit, but it didn't last. It short-lived. So thirdly, Amos
saw the Lord standing behind a wall, beside a wall with a
line in His hand, plumb line in His hand. Look at verse 7.
Thus he showed me, and behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made
by a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord
said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, a plumb line.
And the Lord said, Behold, I'll set a plumb line in the midst
of my people Israel. I will not again pass by them
anymore. And he makes the same statement
in chapter 8 and the second verse. I will not again pass by them
anymore. What is this? What is this plumb
line in his hand? It's the symbol of the the judgment
of Israel by the absolute strictest standard of righteousness, and
that's what God always judges by. There's the plumb line. You
say, well, I think I'm living a pretty good life. Do you? I
tell you, you've got to measure up to the plumb line, to righteousness. There's the standard. There's
the standard. And God says to Amos, I'm not
going to pass by them again anymore. In other words, Amos, it's no
use for you to pray for them anymore. Ain't no use for you to pray
for them anymore. No need to intercede for them.
God says, I am fully determined not to pass by them anymore. I am finished with these people.
They've rebelled against me. They've revolted against me.
They've done it time and time and time again. And I've shown
mercy. I've gone in a different direction.
I've said, I'm going to wipe you off the face of the earth.
Then somebody interceded for you like an Amos or like Moses
did before and all the way through the prophets praying for the
people. God said, then I changed directions. I didn't do it. But now God says, now this is
it. This is it, I'm finished with
it. He sends a fourth vision, gives a fourth vision. We talked
about this this morning in chapter 8 and verse 1. Thus saith the
Lord God, thus hath the Lord God showed unto me, behold a
basket of summer fruit. He said, Amos, what do you see?
He said, I see a basket of ripe summer fruit. The Lord says,
the end has come. This is the end. This is the
end. The end of Israel. And you know
what? It was. They got swallowed up
by a pagan nation. This is the end. This is the
end. It reminds me, go back to Jeremiah
chapter 8. And when I was looking at this,
I thought about this passage of Scripture. Go back to Jeremiah
chapter 8, look at verse 18. Jeremiah chapter 8 verse 18,
when I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in
me. It's faint in me because of judgment
that's coming. That's what Jeremiah is saying.
Because God would, He's going to come upon the people in a
harsh way. He says in verse 19, behold the
voice of the crowd, the daughter of my people, because of them
that dwell in a far country. In other words, the enemy is
coming and the voice of the people is crying. They said, is not
the Lord in Zion? Is not her king in her? Why have
they provoked me to anger, God says, with their graven images
and their strange vanities? Here come the Chaldeans in. Why
are the Chaldeans coming in? Because they provoked me to anger
with their graven images, God said. And that old brother Jeremiah,
he's known as a weeping prophet. He says, the harvest has passed. He said, the summer has ended
and we're not saved. The harvest has passed, the summer
has ended, and we're not saved. Our season of hope has passed
by. The look for deliverance, it's
not going to come. Now all hope is gone. I'll tell
you something that troubles every true preacher of the gospel,
every pastor. When we see the unconcern and
the disregard for the things of God among some of the people,
that just grieves the heart of God's preachers. It always has. Isn't that right, Alan? It always
has. And we see it. We can't do anything
about it. Only God can do something about
it. It's like people are so satisfied. They're satisfied in this world.
They don't have any thoughts. Most people don't have any thoughts
about meeting God. What's it going to take for me
to be accepted by God? They don't think about those
things. And like I said, you preach the
sweetness of the gospel, that doesn't move them. You preach
hellfire and brimstone, that don't move them. They just can't
be moved. They're at ease. They're at ease.
Even in Zion, even in the church, in the visible church. That grieves
us. We seek God's face for people
like that. See a lack of interest in the
things of the Lord. We preach Christ and Him crucified. Look at people who are like you.
I'm looking at you tonight. You're going toward eternity. That's where you go. You're going
out into eternity. Maybe tonight. Maybe somebody
who's watching this tonight, you may go out into eternity
too. Maybe me! We're comfortable. We're comfortable. It's okay to be comfortable in
Christ Jesus now. But it's not okay to be comfortable
in a false refuge. A refuge of lies. So many are
And this is what God is saying to Amos. Back over here in Amos. It's no use praying for them.
I've had it with them. That's what God says. I've had
it with them. Then, over here in chapter 9,
here's the fifth vision that God gives. Look at chapter 9,
verse 1. I saw the Lord standing upon
the altar. What altar? The brazen altar. I saw the Lord standing on the
brazen altar. Amos 9 verse 1. Standing on the
brazen altar. An unused altar. An altar that one writer said
was in disrepair. Just fallen down. Because the
sacrifice was ignored. And you can't worship God without
the sacrifice. You know from the history of
Israel in the Old Testament, the very basis of their worship
of God, it started at the brazen altar. That's where the blood
was shed. That's where death happened. It's like Isaac said
to his father Abraham, where's the lamb? We can't worship God
without a lamb dying in our stead. Where's the lamb? And there's
God standing on top of the altar, an unused altar, an altar in
disrepair, an altar that's been neglected.
If you neglect the sacrifice of Christ Jesus, if you neglect
the substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus, if His offering,
His sin offering, His one-time sin offering is of no real concern
to you, then you just get ready, you're going to meet God. And
not going to be a God of love and grace, it's going to be a
God of judgment and anger and wrath. A God of vengeance. Here's what God is saying to
Amos. Amos, nothing you can say and nothing you can do is going
to stop judgment from falling on these people. God is standing on the altar
and He says, it's time for judgment. The end has come. The end has
come. Let me read a few verses. I saw
the Lord standing on the altar. He said, smite the lintel of
the door that the post may shake. Cut them in the head, all of
them, and I'll kill the last of them with the sword. And he
that fleeth of them shall not flee away. He that escapeth of
them shall not be delivered. I'm going to get them all. That's
what God says. He says in verse 2, though they
dig into hell, My hand will take them there.
Though they decide they gonna climb all the way up to heaven,
I'll bring them down. Though they hide themselves in
the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out, thence. Though
they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence
will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them. And though
they go into captivity before their enemies, thither will I
command the sword, and it shall slay them. I will set mine eyes
upon them for evil and not for good." No matter where they go,
God said, I'm going to find them. You persist in your rebelling
against God. You persist in unbelief and you
turn your nose up at the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and
the doctrine of substitution and salvation by grace alone,
it doesn't mean anything to you. God says, I'm going to find you.
You can't hide from me. You can't hide from me. The Lord God of hosts, verse
5, is he that toucheth the land. It'll melt, and all that dwell
therein shall mourn. It'll rise up like a flood, shall
be drowned as by the flood of Egypt, just like God washed Pharaoh
and his army away in the flood of the Red Sea when he brought
it back together. Who is this God? It's He that
buildeth His stories in the heaven. He hath founded His troop in
the earth. He called for the waters of the
sea and He poured them out upon the face of the earth. The Lord
is His name. That's who's coming after you,
the Lord. The Lord. Not an angel, not a
devil, not a demon, but the Lord's coming after you and He's going
to find you. You can't hide from Him. They
know where you can go to hide from His vengeance and His wrath.
Except in Christ Jesus. There's nowhere else to hide. You can't go in. There's a refuge
for your soul, but that refuge is somebody. It's not the church. It's not in the decision. It's
not baptistry. It's in Christ Jesus. But there's
no refuge for you anywhere else. He says, Are ye not like the
children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? Saith
the Lord, Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of
Egypt? The Philistines from Kaphtor, the Syrians from Kur. Behold,
the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom. I'll
destroy it from off the face of the earth, saving that I will
not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord. Here's
what the Lord said, however, there is a remnant. There is
a remnant, the house of Jacob. He says, lo, I will command and
I'll sift the house of Israel among all nations like as a corn
is sifted, like corn is sifted in a seed. Yet shall not the
least grain fall upon the earth. All the sinners of my people
shall die by the sword, which say the evil shall not overtake
us or prevent us. Oh, you wait. It will. It will. Oh, the rider on the
black horse, famine The thing of it is, in spiritual famine,
people who are spiritually dead, they're comfortable in the famine.
They're comfortable in the famine. And God's got to do a work for
us, for all of us. And, you know, this negligence
of the things of God, this is so deadly. It's so deadly. And to get to where you just
kind of complacent, about the things of the Lord. And you know,
to a degree, we can all get that way. You know that? We can get kind of complacent.
We can kind of cool off. Kind of lose your edge a little
bit, you know. Thank God He brings us back. He brings us back. Lord, don't
let me go. Lord, don't let me go. Lord,
don't let the black horse come ride, the rider on the black
horse come riding through here and take your truth away, take
your Holy Spirit away and there be a famine in here and we just
keep on meeting just like we've always done. Lord, don't let
the rider on the black horse ride through here. Don't let
him ride to me. Don't let him deal with me like
that to where I'm so calloused and unfeeling about the things
of God that my heart isn't moved anymore. Keep him away from me. Keep him away from me. I know
as you open your third seal of the book of God's everlasting
decrees, as this rider on the black horse goes forth from the
very first advent of our Lord Jesus to the second advent of
our Lord Jesus, I know there are going to be famines throughout
the world, but oh God, don't let a famine come to me, and
don't let it come to you. You remember what it said, look
back here in 1 Samuel. Let's see, 1 Samuel chapter 3,
I think it is. Yeah, 1 Samuel chapter 3. 1 Samuel chapter 3. Look at verse
1. The child Samuel ministered unto
the Lord before Eli. 1 Samuel 3. He ministered unto
the Lord before Eli, and the word of the Lord was Precious
in those days. You know what that means? Rare.
It was rare. A word from God. It wasn't plentiful. It wasn't everywhere. Just here
and there. Here and there. I tell you, as
a rider on the black horse, he brings a spiritual famine. A
spiritual famine. And I read, you don't have to
go back to Amos, we won't go back there, but I read that part
where the Lord says, I won't pass by anymore. And you know
the words that come to my mind, because I like songs. I love him. Pass me not, O gentle
Savior. Don't that come to your mind?
Pass me not, O gentle Savior. O Lord, hear my humble cry. While
on others' hour calling, don't pass me by. Don't pass me by. I know I've rebelled against
you. I know our church has rebelled
against you. We're a mess. We've always been
a mess because we're a bunch of sinners and that's all sinners
can do is make a mess. We make a mess of everything.
I know, Lord, I know we're rebellious in the heart. We're a stiff-necked
people by nature. That's the way we are. But don't
pass us by with your mercy. Don't pass me by. I know sometimes
I'm cold as can be. I'm cold as an iceberg. Don't
pass me by. Melt my heart. Melt my heart. Make the gospel sweet to me. And if me, or if it's me or any
of you, if the gospel has just kind of become commonplace to
us, well, I hope the Lord will wake us up. It's easy to just kind of go
through the ceremonies of a service. Just go through the order of
us without any heart. You know that? I was thinking about it this
morning. You know, we come in. Marty plays on the organ. She
plays a verse of the bulletin song. And I get up and read. You know exactly what's going
to happen. I'm going to read a few verses,
and then I'm going to say, take your bulletin. You know to take
your bulletin. You're already reaching for your bulletin. Sing
the Bolton song. You're already beginning to sing.
Well, let's stand. You're already beginning to stand,
because that's what we always do. And you know when we're going
to pray. And you know then we're going
to sit down on that next song, get your songbook, because I
know we're going to sing next. And the next one, we're going
to stand. And then when we finish that next song, when we're standing,
you're closing your book, putting it back in your rack, because
that's what we always do. It's almost mindless. Mindless. We sing the songs that we sing
many, many times. Are they just words to us? What I'm saying, it's easy for
us to fall into just doing things out of habit. Not even thinking about it. You
can do things the same way for so long, you don't even realize
you're doing it. Usually, I'm the first one here
to unlock the door for the office every day. I'm the last one to
leave, usually. And when I leave and lock that
door, I've only been here two and a half years, but I've already
done it so many times, it's mindless. I don't even think about it.
And I'll get in the car, crank the car up, and go down the road,
and then it'll dawn on me. Did I lock that door? I can't
remember whether I locked that door or not. Well, I always have. I've not left it open one time
yet, but I just wasn't thinking. I'd go around the block, come
back and go, yep, it's locked. I did it and didn't even think
about it. And we can come to service and go through the motions. And I know we can talk about
all the ceremonies of the Catholics and the Episcopalians and the
high church people and all that, but we got our ceremonies too. Yes, we do. And if we're not
careful, it'll become so ordinary to us. We'll go through the whole
thing, and before you know it, the service comes to an end.
Well, time to go to lunch now. Time to go home now, get something
to eat. And your mind and your heart hadn't been in it. That's
the way we are. If God leaves us, if God leaves
us, I tell you that rider on the black horse, he'll bring
a famine right to our hearts. He will. And we say, oh God, don't do
that. Don't let him come to me. David, you read Psalm 51. David, he prays to the Lord. And listen to what he says, take
not thy Holy Spirit from me. You say, well, David, the Lord
never takes His Holy Spirit from His people. But David doesn't
presume upon the things of God. See, we tend to presume upon
the things of God. Don't take Your Holy Spirit from
me. There's a passage in 1 Kings where Solomon is leading the
people in prayer. Boy, I tell you, he pours out
his heart to God. In fact, I wasn't going to take
the time to turn there. Just let me read this to you.
1 Kings chapter 8. You bear with me a little bit.
You can get something to eat a little later. I just want to
show you this. Because this is a man, it's like
David in Psalm 51, talking to God from his heart. That's what
you want to do. You want to talk to God from
your heart. Lord, don't pass me by. Don't
pass me by. Lord, I know I'm hard-headed,
and I'm hard-hearted, and I'm calloused, and I don't think
about you all the time like I ought to, but Lord, don't give me what
I deserve. Look on me through the Savior.
See His righteousness. See His blood. And help me to
trust Him. Listen to Solomon. 1 Kings 8.22,
Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord. in the presence
of all the congregation of Israel. Where is he? He is at that brazen
altar that over there in Amos had fallen
into disrepair. This is where Solomon is at.
He is at the place of sacrifice, the place of offering to God
the blood, And I'm not going to read all
this. Look down at verse 28. 28, 29, 30. He said, Yet have
respect unto the prayer of thy servant to his supplication,
O Lord my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer which
thy servant prayeth to thee today. that thine eyes may be opened
toward this house day and night, or night and day, even toward
the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there,
that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant
shall make toward this place. And hearken thou to the supplication
of thy servant and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray
toward this place. And, O God, hear thou from heaven
in thy dwelling place, when thou hearest forgive. He's not taking
anything for granted. It's coming from His heart. Well,
may the Lord speak to me. I think He has, I believe He
has, and I had several of you this morning, you know, you said
something to me, and even tonight, while you were preaching to me
this morning, I'm preaching to all of us. We all need this. I need this. Don't take the things
of God for granted because He's liable to take them away from
you. That's right. Let's sing moment
by moment, 280. Number 280. And you know what to do. Let's
sing. Number 280. have a Moment by moment I'm kept in
his love.