What a blessed, blessed friend
we have in Jesus. Let me speak to you this morning
on the subject of man's boundness and God's glory. Right here from Psalm 36. Just underneath the Psalm 36,
you'll see in little letters to the chief musician, a psalm
of David, the servant of the Lord. is the writer that God the Holy
Spirit gave to pen these words and he wrote it evidently based
on Jewish tradition, Jewish history. He wrote this after being persecuted
by his own son Absalom. Absalom had rebelled against
his father. And David was led by the Spirit
of God then to write this psalm. And I would say to you, and I
don't know your histories, don't know too much about any of you,
any of you who are here or who are watching either, but maybe
I'm speaking to somebody who's got a rebellious daughter or
rebellious son or rebellious grandchild, you're not by yourself. You say, I've got children that
don't believe the gospel. I brought them up under the sound
of the Word of God. I taught them about Christ Jesus
as best I could. I had them under the sound of
a man of God who taught who God is, what we are, of the necessity
of a Redeemer, of salvation by grace. You say I wasn't the best
example to them, but I tried to set before them an example
of somebody who loved God. Full of failures, yes. Full of
sins and weaknesses, yes. But I tried to teach them about
Christ. But they're a rebel. I can't
even get them to come to church. That's the way it was with David. David, the scripture says, he
was a man after God's own heart. He was a man who sought God's
glory. We know that. He was a man who wrote most of
the Psalms by the inspiration of the Spirit. He is a man that
the Scripture says he is the sweet psalmist of Israel. But within his own family, he had a wretched son. And I say to you, mothers and
you fathers, and you grandparents, it is our responsibility to set
before our sons and daughters, our grandsons and our granddaughters,
it is our responsibility to set before them an example of somebody
who loves the gospel. And I know we forget this. We forget this sometimes anyway,
but we need to be reminded there is always somebody watching us. There is always somebody observing
us. Now, having said that, I do rejoice
to know that whatever our God has purposed, whatever our God
has predestinated, Whatever our God has ordained, that is going
to happen. And even if I don't behave myself
like I ought to, even if I make blunders, and I do, even if I
make mistakes, and I do, and even if I sin, and I do, even
if I do things that I ought not to do, and I often do things
that I ought not to do, Even if I neglect to do things that
I should do, and unfortunately often I do things that I should
not do, notwithstanding my failures, God's eternal purpose stands
sure. I'm thankful for that. I'm thankful
I cannot ruin in any way, I cannot frustrate in any way God's eternal
purpose. Having said that, I know what
my responsibility is as a father, as a husband, as a grandfather,
as an individual in the community, as a pastor. I have a responsibility
to watch my conduct because people are watching.
They're watching. I want to be an example of an
individual who loves the gospel of God's grace. I want to set before our young
people an example of an individual who loves the Word of God. Like
you talked about, the Word of God. Showing respect to the Word
of God. Showing respect to the worship
services. I want to show people by my attitude,
by my conduct, just how much the Lord Jesus means to me. I owe Him everything. Oh my soul,
He saved me. Back in old eternity, He chose
me. He didn't have to. He didn't
have to choose me. Like all the other sons and daughters
of Adam in our fallen state, I'm not worthy of the least of
His mercies, but according to the purpose of God, He loved
me. He chose me. He said, you're
mine. You're mine. And He gave me to
His son. He entrusted me to Jesus Christ. Oh my goodness, before the world
ever began, God had nothing but thoughts of love toward this
vile man that stands before you. And having given me to Christ
Jesus, the Son of God said, Father, I'll take care of him. Father, I'll restore him by my
blood. Father, all of his sins, which
are so many, charmed him to my account. What manner of love is this? And then 2,000 years ago, that's
when my dad came due. and he came and paid it. He paid
every farthing. Jesus paid it all, all the debt. Oh, all sin had left a crimson
stain. Crimson stains everything I do,
every word I say, every thought that I think, every motive that
I have, every dream that goes through my mind. Sin had left
a crimson stain over everything. But he washed it. He washed it white as snow. He washed it with his blood. I'll tell you just a brief give
you a brief story. Yesterday, I attended a graveside
service for one of the sisters of our congregation. And the preacher brought a very
poor message. I'm sorry anybody had to listen
to it. And after the message was over,
I was asked if I'd like to meet the preacher. And I said, okay. And I was introduced to him and
I asked him this question. Where's the blood? Where's the
blood? You speak to a group of people.
You speak to a group of eternity bound sinners. And you can't
say one single thing about the blood of the Lord Jesus. That
tells you how unimportant the blood of Christ Jesus is to him.
And that's the statement. It makes a statement. He said, what do you mean? I
said, there's no substitution. There was no substitution in
your message. There was no Christ in your message. There was no blood in your message. He said, oh, oh, oh, I have that
in another message. And I said, that is the message.
That is the message. Listen, if the Lord has saved
us by His free grace, If the blood of the Lord Jesus has indeed
washed us from all that filthy stain, that crimson stain, if
He's washed us and made us whiter than the snow, I guarantee you
this, we're going to brag on Him. We're going to brag on the
blood. We're going to talk about the
Lord Jesus Christ. Don't tell me, oh, that's in
another message. That is the message. The message
of redemption. The message of reconciliation. The message of imputed righteousness. The message of the full and free
pardon of sins. That's the message through the
substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe
this message. I love this message. I preach
this message. And you and me who love this
gospel, we have a duty We have a responsibility to those
around us to show them just how vital this message is to us. And we show people by our conduct, by our attitude. Let's be kind
to people. You know the gospel is an offensive
message. I know that. It offends man's
love of self. The gospel offends our self-righteousness. The gospel of salvation by free
and sovereign grace, that offends man's self-arrogance. Because
the gospel brings us down to nothing. The gospel says, not
you, but Christ. The gospel says, not your works,
but His work. The gospel is an offensive message. It's an offensive message. God
saves whom He will. And He saves whom He will by
the only method whereby God can be just and justify the ungodly
through the substitutionary death, burial and resurrection of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's not you, it's Him. It's
an offensive message. But now listen. Let's not us
be the offense. I don't want to be myself the
offender. If my gospel offends you, if
my gospel makes you upset, then you're just going to have to
be upset because I'm not going to change this gospel. I'm not
going to water this message down. But I don't want to be the offense. I want to have a good attitude. When I moved to Michigan, And
I began to meet a few folks in the small town where I pastored
up there for the better part of 20 years. I began to meet
some business people in the community and they said, oh yeah, I know
such and such a man that used to go to that church. I said,
you did? They said, yeah, he's the meanest man I ever met in
my life. And I didn't hear it from just
one source. I heard that from several people.
I don't want to be known as a mean person. Now if you think this
gospel that I preach makes me a mean person, well, you'll just
have to think that. But I don't want to be mean. I don't want to be the offender.
Now listen, you are the people of God. It's like David now. We're talking about David, the
servant of the Lord. The people around David, they knew he loved
God. They knew he was appointed by
God to be in the position he was in. He's God's servant. He loved the Lord. The things
of God were vital to him. But he didn't compromise. And
having done all to set an example before people, and I know he
messed up a lot of times, but having the motivation to
live right and proper and do right in front of people, still
he had a son who was a devil. We have a duty. We have responsibility
as moms and dads and grandparents uncles and aunts and so forth
and so on. We have a responsibility as people
who love the gospel to conduct ourselves in the world in a manner
that is befitting the gospel that we love. In fact, the Lord
says, the Apostle Paul says in 2 Timothy, he says, or in Timothy,
or in the book of Titus, I'll get it right, he says, adorn
the doctrine of our God. I want to adorn that doctrine.
But still, if we seek to do right and live right and be a good
example, what we do is not going to change the eternal destiny
of anybody. Did you know that? And we have
a responsibility to do right. We have a duty before God. To live in this world for His
glory. To speak words for His honor.
To set forth the gospel. To be people who are loving and
kind and gracious. But notwithstanding what we do,
there are still going to be people who will be filled with unbelief. And even in your household, I'll
get it back. Let's bring it back around. Here's
David. He had an Absalom. Maybe there's somebody in here
who's got an Absalom in your family. Absalom was a rebel. He just rose up in rebellion
against his father. You see, while we do what we
can for our children and our grandchildren and our neighbors
and our friends and folks that we work with. Nobody can change
the heart but God. We need to remember that. I want
to do what's right. That don't get me off the hook.
I got a house full of people now. I try to set an example
before them, somebody to whom the gospel is It's everything. Christ is everything. It says,
well, make Jesus first in your life. He's not first in my life.
He is my life. I've got no life without Him.
There is no life for any sinner on this earth without Jesus Christ
and His blood and His righteousness. But notwithstanding what I do
and what I say, I can't convert anybody. I can't save myself,
I can't save my children, I can't save my grandchildren, neither
can you. And David is a good example of
this. He's a man after God's own heart. If you don't believe it, read
God's Word because that's what God said about him. You can say
a lot of negative things about David. But God said, David is
a man after my own heart. His heart, God said, beats with
mine. His heart wants, deep down in
his heart, he desires what my purpose is. And Absalom, oh, what a rebel. Right toward the end, Absalom's
armies rose up, and David called his three captains in. He said,
go out there, take care of this rebel uprising. Three captains. Joab was the main one. But he
said, go easy on my son. That's what he said. Remember?
He said, go easy on my son. Be kind. Show kindness to Axel. Well they went out there and
the armies of Absalom rose up, they got together and the armies
of David and the armies of David, they killed 20,000 of the followers
of Absalom. And Absalom got on a mule. He
was riding away. He got caught in the tree. And
the mule just kept on going. His hair, he must have had long
hair or something. He got caught in the tree is
what the Scripture said. And there he was hanging. And
one of the servants of Joab, he saw him. And he went running
to Joab and he said, he said, I saw, I saw Absalom hanging
from a tree. And Joab said, why didn't you
kill him? I'd give you 10 shekels of silver
and a new coat of armor. And the servant said, I wouldn't
have killed him for 1,000 shekels of silver, because I heard what
the king said, deal gently with my son. Joab said, I'll handle
this. He chose 10 men and said, come
with me. He got three little spears. javelins. He went out and there was Absalom
hanging from a tree. And Joab threw three javelins
right into the heart of Absalom. He come down out of that tree,
he fell down, and then Joab's ten men, they killed him, finished
the job, threw him in a pit, covered him with rocks. And a messenger Went back to
King David. King David said, how is it with
my son? Kushai said, would to God all
of your enemies were as Absalom. David said, oh, Absalom, my son,
my son, Absalom. Would God I have died for thee,
oh, Absalom. Just absolutely broke his heart. Do you have a broken heart over
a child who grieves you? You're not alone. David had an
absolute. He had an absolute. Preacher,
what can I do for my children? Well, see if you can get them
under the sound of the gospel. That's the only hope for them.
And I know my words can't save them. And I know you've prayed
over them, you've wept over them, you've cried to God. Oh God,
do something for them. The only one who can do anything
for them is the one you've been praying to. And don't stop. Just don't stop. Maybe God will
show mercy. Maybe God will be gracious. Maybe
God will be forgiven. It's the psalm of David. And
you'll notice he's the servant of the Lord. In fact, I was preparing
this message finishing up yesterday and I thought, I believe I can
preach a whole message on those few words just under Psalm 36
before we even get into the text. Because he's a servant of the
Lord. God chose him. Now, there is
a sense in which all men are servants of the Lord. In fact, all devils are servants
of the Lord. Everything serves God's purpose. Isn't that right? Everything
and everybody serves God's eternal purpose. So I hope and pray God
will use me. You can count on it. God is going
to use you in some way. And I know with most of us, our
names don't last very long after we die. Nancy and I bought two
grave plots the other night. See, we plan on staying, so don't
bury us now. Back where we stopped yesterday,
we were looking for golden oaks. I didn't know where it was, and
we weren't going to look at it, because we bought two over there
or over here. And I saw a policeman, so I pulled
the policeman over. He was stopped, and I said, I'm
looking for golden oaks. He told me how to get there.
And I said, well, we just bought two great plots. We want to see
what that looks like up there. And he said, well, I hope you
don't have to use them soon. Well, I'm going to use them someday. One of these days I'm going to
use them. But in my life until my death, I'm
going to serve God's purpose. And in your life and until your
death, you're going to serve God's purpose too. And maybe
Well, like Pharaoh, he served God's purpose. God said, for
this same purpose, if I raise thee up, that I might make my
power known. Then He cast him aside. Most
of us, though, after we're buried and gone for
a while, this is what led me to the story, you know, it's
not going to be long before people forget. who we are, where we're
buried, and that's okay. That's okay. But everybody serves God's purpose.
You're serving God's purpose. Do you know that? You're serving
God's purpose. This church right here, we're
serving God's purpose. But the demons serve God's purpose.
The devil serves God's purpose. Judas served God's purpose. The
Son of Man goeth as it was determined, but woe unto that man by whom
he is betrayed. He served God's purpose. All men do. But David was a servant of God,
selected by God. He's a preacher. He's a psalmist. He's a writer of scripture. He's
a servant of the Lord. And we're to serve the Lord.
You know, the scripture says Psalm 100, serve the Lord with
gladness. And that word serve, it's not a slavish thing, not
always anyway. Because, you know, when Moses
told Pharaoh, the Lord said, let my people go, that we might
go out into the wilderness and serve Him. That's what He said.
That we might serve Him. And Pharaoh came back a little
later and Pharaoh said, well, I'll tell you what. You and your
wives and your children, all of you folks, you can all go,
but you leave your herds behind. And Moses said, we're not going
to do that. Because what we're going to do when we get out in
the wilderness, we're not going to have anything to sacrifice
to God. How are we going to serve God if we don't have our animals? What is it to serve God? Really,
it's to worship God. It's to worship God. You could correctly say, in coming
to this service this morning, that you have come here to worship
God. or to serve God. You can say
to either way, I've come to serve the Lord. And you know how long
we'll be serving the Lord? Forever. We'll be serving Him
forever. Hold your place here. Look at
Revelation chapter 22. We'll be serving the Lord forever. There never will be a time when
our service will be over. What an honor it is to be His
servant. and to serve Him. Look at Revelation
chapter 22. Revelation chapter 22 verse 1. John says, and He showed me a
pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding
out of the throne of God and of the land. In the midst of
the street of it and on either side of the river was there a
tree, the tree of life. That's Christ Jesus, which buried
twelve manna of fruits and yielded her fruit every month. And the
leaves of the tree, the doctrines of the tree, the doctrines of
the gospel, the doctrines of our Lord Jesus Christ, those
doctrines that come forth from Him were for the healing of the
nations. He heals us by His gospel, by
His teaching, by His truth, by His doctrines. Look at verse
3, And there shall be no more curse, But the throne of God and of
the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him."
We're going to serve Him throughout eternity. That is, we're going
to worship Him. Now we're not going to be killing
sacrifices, but we'll be honoring the sacrifice that was offered,
the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we're going
to be doing forever. What is heaven all about? Oh my! You listen to what preachers
say. Not God's preachers, but false preachers. It's going to
be a grand reunion in heaven. Oh, it'll be good to see Mom
and Dad again and all the aunts and uncles and brothers and sisters
and cousins. Oh, we're just going to have
a great big reunion. Well, there is going to be a
reunion of the saints of God, but all of the children of God,
they have eyes only for Jesus Christ the Lord and will serve
Him, will worship Him, We'll fear Him, we'll revere Him forever
and ever and ever and delight to do so. Never going to get
weary. Never going to get tired of worshiping
the Lord. Serve the Lord. We come here
today to serve the Lord. To serve the Lord. And to serve
Him with gladness. With gladness. It's just not
a drudgery. David's the servant of the Lord.
It wasn't a drudgery to David to serve the Lord. Oh, I've got
to go serve the Lord today. Oh, I've got to go to church
today. That's God's people. Oh, wonderful. Today's the day
of worship. The day is the day the family
of God gets together. And I know we worship Him privately. Indeed we do. If you don't worship
in private, you don't worship in public. But God has especially
placed an importance, a significance upon public worship. You say
what you will. But if you neglect the assembling
of yourselves together as a matter of some end, that's a bad sign. Because God's people in this
worship, we're social creatures. And we love to be together, we
love to be where the family is. And where the family of God is
gathered, we always exalt our elder brother and our father,
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are here to serve the Lord. I hope we've worshipped. I hope
we've worshipped today. I'll get to this psalm tonight.
How's that? I'll get to it tonight. I preached
way too long Wednesday night. I know I did. I may have mentioned
that. Somebody said, yeah, about ten minutes. Oh, oh, okay, somebody
pull that knife out, would you? Yeah, you know who said it. It was said in fun. But we're
just here to honor God. We're here to worship the Lord. We've read His Word and tried
to exalt Christ Jesus. You pray for your children. You
pray for your grandchildren. Only God can do something for
them. And God help us to set a good example before somebody
who cares about the gospel. I tell you, if they see you not
attending the place of worship, if they see you, you don't ever
crack open your Bible, if they see you and, you know, things
of the world come before the things of God, you are making
an impression on them. Isn't that right? You are. You're making an impression upon
your children, your grandchildren, your friends, and your relatives,
and your neighbors, either for good or bad. God help us to be
model citizens of the kingdom of God. And I don't want it to
be an act. I just want to live. You know,
we just live the Christian life. That's what it is. We don't get
up in the morning and say, well, I'm going to do some good works
today. No matter what, I am very determined to do it. You just
live. Just live the life. Oh God, help
me to honor you today in my life and show people that Christ Jesus
means everything to me. And He does. Well, let's sing
again. To God be the glory, 449.