There you are. There you are. But I was thinking, well, he's
thinking he's universal. the the Good evening. Let's all stand
together and sing hymn number 51. Hymn number 51. Praise the Savior, ye who know
him, who can tell how much we owe him. Gladly let us render
to Him all we are and have. Jesus is the name that charms
us. He for conflict bids and arms
us. Nothing moves and nothing harms
us. while we trust in Him. Trust in Him, ye saints forever. He is faithful, changing never. Neither force nor guile can sever
those he loves from Him. Keep us, Lord, O keep us, cleaving
To thyself and still believing Till the hour of our receiving
Promise joys with thee. Then we shall be where we would
be Then we shall be what we should be. Things that are not now nor
could be soon shall be at old. Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
258. 258. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my
Lord. A wonderful Savior to me. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock. There's rivers of pleasure I
see. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of His love. And covers me there with His
hand And covers me there with His hand The wonderful Savior is Jesus
my Lord He taketh my burden away. He holdeth me up, and I shall
not be moved. He giveth me strength as my day. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock that shadows a dry thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of his love. and covers me there with his
hand, and covers me there with his hand. With numberless blessings each
moment he crowns, and filled with His fullest demands. I sing in my rapture, O glory
to God, for such a Redeemer as mine. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of his love. And covers me there with his
hand. And covers me there with his
hand. When clothed in His brightness
transported, I rise to meet Him in clouds of the sky. His perfect salvation, His wonderful
love I'll shout with the millions on high. Be hided, my soul, in the cleft
of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of His love And covers me there with His hand And covers me there
with His hand Good evening. If you would, open
your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 35. Isaiah 35. The wilderness and the solitary
place shall be glad for them. Desert shall rejoice and blossom
as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly and
rejoice even with joy in singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be
given unto it. The excellency of Carmel and
Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord and the excellency
of our God. Strengthen ye the weak hands
and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are fearful
heart, be strong, fear not, Behold, your God will come with vengeance,
even God with a recompense. He will come and save you. Then
the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf
shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap
as a heart, and the tongue of the dumb sing. For in the wilderness
shall waters break out, and streams in the desert, and the parched
ground shall become a pool. in the thirsty land springs of
water. The habitation of dragons where each lay shall be grass
with reeds and rushes. And a highway shall be there,
and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness. The unclean
shall not pass over it, but it shall be for those, the wayfaring
men. The fool shall not err therein.
No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go upon
their own. It shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord
shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy
upon their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Our Most High and Precious Heavenly
Father, we come for thy throne, united hearts rejoicing Risen
Savior we worship today. We ask to send thy spirit among
this congregation. Open our hearts and unstop our
ears, Lord. Give us understanding of the
word. May all things honor and glorify
Christ again tonight. We ask thee to bless the sick
of the congregation once again. Touch them if it be thy will
to heal them. We ask these things in Christ's name. Hymn number 357. We'll sing the first, second, fourth,
and fifth. Third verse. 357. Nearer, my
God, to thee. Nearer to thee. even though it be a cross that
raiseth me. Still all my songs shall be nearer,
my God, to Thee. Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer
to Thee. Though like the wanderer, the
sun gone down, Darkness be over me, I rest a stone. Yet in my dreams I'd be nearer,
my God, to Thee. Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer
to Thee. Then with my waking thoughts
bright with Thy praise, Out of my stony creed Bethel I raise
So by my woes to Thee Nearer, my God, to Thee Nearer, my God,
to Thee, Nearer to Thee. For if on joyful wing, Leaving
the sky, Sun, moon, and stars for God, upward I fly. Still all my songs shall be,
dearer my God to thee. Dearer, my God, to Thee. Dearer to Thee. Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55. Somebody read this the other
day, and I started thinking of this. There
in verse 3, Isaiah 55, 3. Incline your ear and come unto
me here, and your soul shall live. And I will make with you,
I will make an everlasting covenant with you with your mercies of
David. Somebody read that the other
day and it stayed on my mind. Let's start back up in verse
one. Oh, listen, everyone that thirsts come to the waters. And he that hath no money, come
ye, buy and eat. They come by wine and milk without
money and without price. That's God's marketplace. Don't
cost you a thing in the world. Don't cost you nothing to go
there. Everything you got, he said, you ain't got no money,
just come and get it. Just come and get it. Couldn't
buy it if you had the money anyway. Couldn't buy it. Wherefore you
to spend money for that which is not bread, and ye labor for
that that satisfieth not, hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye
that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto
me. Here and your soul shall live. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, the sure mercies of David. Behold, I have given
him Talking about Christ, for a witness to the people, a leader
and commander of the people. There in verse 3, you hear what
God's saying? He said, incline your ear, turn
this way, turn this way, listen to me, hear my word, hear my
promises. He says, come here. Find your
ear and come unto me. Come with a hearing ear. Come
with a ready heart. And your soul, and ain't that
what it says, your soul shall live. Your soul shall live. It'll live everlasting. It'll
live forever. And I will make, I will make
an everlasting covenant with you. I, God almighty, eternal,
the living God, King of kings, Lord of lords, will enter into
a covenant with you. And a covenant that won't change.
It'll never change. Never be broken. Never cease. God said, listen to me. Listen
to me, what I say. I'll make an everlasting covenant
with you. I'll give you the short mercies
of David. The word covenant appears 250
times in the word of God. Just the word covenant. You find
covenant, the first covenant's mentioned, the one he made with
Noah. He says, you know, Noah was scared to death the next
time it start raining, you know, they'd be in the same boat they
was in to start with. What are we gonna do if it starts
raining again? God said, I'm gonna put a bow in the sky. And
he said, every time you see that bow, he said, I'll tell you,
I'll never ever again destroy the world with water. Every time
you see a rainbow, you're looking at the covenant that God made
with Abraham. I mean, with Noah, excuse me.
He done that for Noah just to give Noah some assurance, give
Noah some calm. When it started raining, Noah
never got nervous anymore. He never got afraid anymore.
He never had to build another ark. Every time it rained, God
caused light to pass through there and there'd be a rainbow. You think, I think of that every
single time I see a rainbow. You ever seen a double rainbow,
one up here and then one down here? Has a double promise. And then he made a covenant with
Abraham. He made that covenant with Abraham that he'd be the
father of many nations. And Christ would come through
the seed of Abraham. Didn't take on him the nature
of angels, he took on him the seed of Abraham. And you know
that covenant that God made with Abraham was a promise that through
Abraham would come Isaac, would come Jacob, and would come Christ,
the Son of God. And a covenant with David, he
made a covenant with David. Over 250 times, God talks about
covenant. And there's two covenants mentioned
in the Bible, two real basic covenants mentioned. The first
is a covenant of works. You know, God made Adam. took
him out of the dust of the ground and made an inanimate object
out of him. He was standing there just like
a statue. God walked up to him in the person
of Christ. Everything God ever did, when
he created, he created by the word. Everything God did, he
did it by Christ. And Christ walked up to this
man and breathed in his nostrils the breath of life, and that
man turned into a living soul. And then God told him, he says,
now you, I'm going to make you king. I'm going to make you Lord.
I'm going to make you, I'm going to put you in this. I'm going
to give you dominion over everything, over everything. And it's not
good for you to be alone. So I'm going to put you to sleep
and I'm going to make you a wife out of you. And God put them
in the garden, he says, now you tend this garden, you're king
in this garden, you're lord over this garden, you rule over everything,
the dominion's yours. And he said, but there's one
stipulation, one thing you can't do. What is it? And all the trees
in this garden, all the trees on the earth, he said, welcome
to all of them, but there's one tree in the middle of the garden,
that's the tree of knowledge. Good and evil. Don't you eat
that. You know how to get somebody
to do something? Tell them not to do it. But they'll
do it. That's why he said, don't you
do that. And he didn't. Satan come to his wife. And he deceived his wife. He
was subtle. He was crafty. And she ate of
the fruit. And she was fine. But the commandment
was to Adam because it was a covenant made with Adam. He's the head
of the race. He's a federal head and we're
all united to him. We come through Adam's loins
and every member of the human race come through Adam. And that's
why every member of the human race comes out of the mother's
womb dead in trespasses and sins. That's how come people die is
because of Adam's sin. But Adam, she didn't, nothing
happened. So she took the fruit and gave him to Adam and said,
see, it didn't bother me. He took a bite and immediately
something happened to him. And he knew right then and there
what he did in this covenant. Every one of us are reunited
in this covenant with Adam. By one man, sin entered into
the world. And death by that one sin passed
upon all. Passed upon all. And you know,
even though we have eternal life in Christ, that's the next covenant,
but we have this life in Christ, yet this body has to die. And
you know why it has to die? Because sin. Sin. Sin, if Adam would have lived,
all he would have been is have his own righteousness. He would
have been standing in his own strength, been standing in his
own power. And all we'd ever had was a human
righteousness. But he didn't dwell in that.
He sinned against God Almighty. And then he was so deceived that
he thought he could hide from God. And then he got so deceived
then, he got him a big old fig leaf. Got him a big old fig leaf
and he got himself and covered his neck with a fig leaf. And oh my. And I tell you when
all his children in him. And he was in paradise when that
happened. We're not in paradise anymore.
We're not in the Garden of Eden anymore. And that second covenant
is this everlasting covenant, this covenant of grace. And God,
in this covenant of grace, let me tell you something. Before
Adam ever sinned, God had a savior. Christ was the lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. Ain't that what it says? God
gave us grace in Christ before the world ever began. We were
chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. Adam was put in
the garden. Adam sinned, but God had a Savior
for us, had a Redeemer for us, had salvation for us, for his
elect, chosen in Christ before the world ever began, before
Adam ever committed the first sin. What do you think about that? You know, I never will forget
the first time I heard that. God had a Savior for us before
I ever sinned. And He did. He did. The Bible tells us that plainly.
Plainly. But just as He had to clothe
Adam, God has to clothe us. And oh, my. And then there's
this covenant of grace. Oh, my. The first one in Adam,
we died. In Christ, we're made alive.
In Adam, we're in darkness. In Adam, there was death. In
Christ, we have life. God made us to understand that
he had chosen a people in Christ before the world ever began.
And there's only two work governance in this world, and two men that
God deals with in this world. He deals with men in Adam, and
He deals with men in Christ. He deals with men on the basis
of works, and He deals with men on the basis of the covenant
of grace. He deals with men in what Adam did, and He deals with
men on what Christ did. And there ain't but two men that
God deals with the whole human race with, and that's just two
men, Adam or Christ. We all had our part in Adam. Oh, my. But this covenant, you
know, we need to study these covenants. They have some relationship
to Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ, in revealing him to us. We was
involved in the covenant of works. You know, the natural man, the
natural man, apart from a revelation from God, He knows what you ask. You go out, ask anybody. How
would God save them if he was going to save them? The first
thing they'll start telling you is, I believe you have to start
living right. I believe you have got to work.
And I believe that God would give you an opportunity. And
you know, a man by nature is a works religionist and a man
by nature has a self-righteousness. By nature, there's not a man
on the earth that doesn't have a righteousness of his own. When
I was in Vietnam, and you go to any place in the Southeast,
and it's Buddha, Buddha, Buddha, Buddha, Buddha. And they pray
to a statue. But oh, my. And nobody had to
teach them to do that. Nobody had to teach him to kill
chickens and throw blood on people. No, no, no. Man, by nature, believes
in a covenant of works. Man, by nature, is a freewheeler. Man, by nature, is an Arminian.
And up to these two covenants, there's a covenant of work, and
then there's a covenant of grace. Oh, and one we fail from our
standing in state, in Adam. In Christ, in the covenant of
grace, we're restored. Psalm 69 in verse 4 says this,
I restored that which I took not away. Who did it? Christ
did. Christ did. And oh, as in Adam
die, even so in Christ shall we all be made alive. In Adam,
death came. In Christ, life came. And oh,
let's look at this covenant for a minute. God, when he gave Adam
the covenant, he says, do this and live. Do this and live. Well, he failed. He failed. He
failed. Replenish the earth. He failed.
He failed. But oh, here in Isaiah 55, it
says, I will make a covenant. Adam broke the old, destroyed
it. It can do nothing but condemn
us. Here we have this everlasting covenant that God did. Let me
tell you something. God doesn't, he's not like us. He doesn't react to things. You
know, you and I react to situations, react to things that happen.
God's not a reactive God. No, no, God don't react to things.
Well, I, you know, Adam felt, I got to fix this mess. Well, I'll tell you what I'll
do. I'll come up with another covenant. We'll see if they can
make me keep that one. But no, no, I tell you, you know,
God says I'm going to make a covenant, a covenant of grace with them.
And all that old covenant to do is condemn us, condemn us. But God doesn't react like us,
don't do like us. He don't wait for something to
happen, then react to it. Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning of the creation. He said in Isaiah 46, 9 and 10,
you've all seen this so many times. He declared the end from
the beginning and saying that everything I, he declared the
end from the beginning and whatsoever I please to do, it shall come
to pass. God declared what's going to
happen there to the, all the way to the end. Now, I can't plan my life like
that. People ask me, what are you going to do tomorrow? I have
it in my mind what I'm going to do, but my situation changed. And if somebody don't make me
get up, I'm not going to do much. I'm serious about that. Boy, I don't have to get up and
go to work like you all do. But all my, you know, God declared
the end from the beginning. Information at times are the
things that are not yet done, saying all my pleasure will be
done. Let me give you six things about
this covenant, the sure mercies of David, an everlasting covenant,
the sure mercies of David. Let me give you six things. This
covenant is a covenant of grace. Pure grace, absolute grace, almighty
grace, grace that comes from God. Do you know grace divide
grace? Pure grace. And when you say
grace, I don't know why it's redundant to say pure grace.
Because grace means that you have nothing to do with it. Grace and works cannot mix. They do not mix. You cannot believe
grace and then turn around and say, but yeah, I believe we got
to do this and got to do that. It's all of grace. Never say
I have to never say, but it's all ways of grace. And we dealt
with that, I think this morning, you know, it's grace that provides
everything that makes the covenant to be sure, because it's grace.
And I'll tell you something, the second thing about it is,
it's a covenant for sinners. It's a covenant for sinners.
It's a covenant for people that know they don't deserve anything. It's a covenant for people that
have sinned, that has no ability, that has no power, that has no
rights. Look over, keep Isaiah and then
look over in Romans chapter 3. I want to show you these three
nuns over here. Four nuns, four of them. You know, this is a covenant
for sinners. God commendeth his love for us while we were yet
sinners. Christ died for us. Look what
he said in verse 9. What then? Are we better than
they, Jews? No, in no way, no wise. We've
proved before, both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under
sin. Now watch this. As it is written,
there's none righteous, no not one. There's none that understands. There is none that seeks after
God. They have all gone out of the
way. They began to become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no not one. So you got to have a covenant
That's for sinners, not for good people, not for folks doing the
best they can. When we talk about sinners, we're
talking about people that actually know what they are. They're not
pretending, they're not acting like there's something they're
not. They understand that without this covenant, without this covenant
of grace and without this covenant for sinners, there'd be no hope
for any sinner on the top side of God's earth. Because there's
none righteous, no, not one. None seeks God, none understands. Nobody does. So God had to make
a covenant and he made it for sinners. And I tell you, I've
heard so many preachers say over the years, if I could just find
a sinner, and when you find a sinner, when you start preaching the
gospel to them, you know what they'll say? Their ears start
picking up. Their ears start picking up.
Oh, that sounds just what I need. That's just what I need to hear.
Oh, that's what's good. That fits me. Virgin says the
gospel is the only thing that suits sinners. It's suitable for sinners and
sinners only. That's why people can't take
it. Because you know, God said, you come to me and I'll give
you everything you need. You need water, I'll give you
water. You need bread, I'm going to give you bread. You need life,
I'm going to give you life. You need righteousness, I'll
give you righteousness. You need strength, I'll give
you strength. You got no ability, I'll give you the ability. And
that man with the withered hand, he said, stretch forth your hand.
The man had a withered hand. It was all withered up. And he
said, stretch forth your hand. He couldn't stretch forth his
hand. But when Christ told him to, he could. With the command
comes the ability. And when God makes a man a sinner,
the ability to come to Christ is given to him at the same time.
Huh? Oh, I tell you what. I need a gospel for sinners.
Oh, it suits me. It suits me like, you know, they
say it fits you like a glove. This fits me much better than
any glove I've ever had. This fits me better than anything
I've ever had. This gospel, this covenant of
grace for sinners, it's, oh my, it's just exactly what I need. And the third thing about this
covenant, Over here, we said it's the sure, our everlasting
covenant. It's unconditional. It's unconditional. You know,
there's two things, three things that I could say that's absolutely
unconditional. Election is unconditional. Election's
unconditional. God's sovereignty. Salvation's
unconditional, and this covenant's unconditional. There's no conditions
for us to meet. I don't know how many people
over the years say, well, preacher, don't you believe we need to?
Don't you believe we ought to? Listen, we can say we ought to all over
and over and over and over again, but when we talk about When we
talk about this covenant of grace, it has to be unconditional. Who
could meet the conditions? If God made conditions, who could
meet them? If He made the condition on you believing before He'd
do anything for you, you'd be lost. If He made the condition on you
going to church three times a week, most of us would be lost. If
he made the condition on us praying one hour, solid hour, one hour
a day, we'd be lost. So you got to have a covenant
that don't have no conditions on it. What I need to do? Nothing. Nothing. Don't I need to? No. No, no. That's why it's called
free grace. I love the word free grace better
than any kind of grace. Free, free. You can understand
that. Free grace. Oh, no conditions
on it. Eternal life is a gift. Oh, somebody
gives you a gift, you don't pay for it, you give them thanks.
And when God gave us the gift of life, and he gave us Christ,
and he gave us grace, and he gave us faith, all we can do
is turn around and bless his holy name. You know, David, Paul
said, lift up in holy hands and give him praise. And how can you have holy hands?
Only through Christ. but all bless his holy name for
giving us everything freely. Oh, I tell you, God gave us a
gift and all that gift is his son. That gift is grace. That
gift is faith. That gift is righteousness. Everything
God gives us a gift and you don't pay for it. You don't pay for
it. Oh my. And look at the next thing about
it. It says there in verse three, he said, I will make an everlasting covenant with
you, here in your soul shall live. It's an everlasting covenant. Now what everlasting means? That's a long time. You know,
people say, I ain't never doing that again. Never is a long time.
But when God says everlasting, you know what everlasting means?
That once it starts, it never stops. That's what everlasting means.
Whenever it starts, it don't stop. Do you reckon His covenant will
ever stop, cease to be? You know, I said it this morning
that God's gonna show the exceeding riches of His grace and kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus ages without end. Oh, it's gonna take grace for
us to go in the early gates. And it's an everlasting covenant.
That means it will never, never cease. And I tell you, once it
starts, it never stops. It never stops. There's an everlasting
gospel. God is eternal. God is eternal. And everything he does is based
on eternal. I don't know about you, and I
hope you understand what I'm saying. But when you go in the
Bible, almost everything that's done for us is in the past tense.
The past tense. You look in Romans 8, for whom
he foreknew, them he also called. Them he called, he also justified.
Them he justified, he also glorified. I forbid that's in the past tense.
That means it's done. But we ain't, we ain't, we ain't,
we've been called, we've been justified. And if we was justified,
Christ before you and I ever existed. I think that's because
God's eternal I believe we was justified in Christ before God
ever sent him into this world You know, how else can it be
any other way? There's four justifications that
God justified us in Christ before the world ever began There's
justification when Christ went to the cross and died for us.
There's justification when he was raised again for us, and
there's justification whenever we believe. But there had to be one back
there before we could ever have this one out here. That guaranteed
us having justification here because he justified us back
there. Does that make any sense, y'all? That's a curveball. But you know, you think about
it, God does things based on eternity. He's already, as far
as He's concerned, we're already in glory. As far as God's concerned,
right now we're sitting in the heaven, we're sitting down in
the seat of Christ in heaven itself, together, raised together
and seated with Him in heavenly places. He gave us grace in Christ
before the world ever began. So everything he'd done for us,
he'd done way back yonder, and tells us about it in time. And I'm glad he told me about
it. Oh, my. Eternal life. God's eternal. And everything
he does is based on eternity. Oh, and now look over here in
2 Samuel. I'm going to give you a time to get over 2 Samuel,
and chapter 23, over here in 2 Samuel, chapter 23. 2 Samuel 23, you got the kings,
then you got Samuel, 1 and 2 Samuel. Samuel 23, all the sure mercies of David. Look what it says here now. These be the last words of David,
that David, the son of Jesse, and the man who was raised up
on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, the sweet psalmist
of Israel, said, the spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his
word was in my tongue. Now look what he said down here
in verse five. This covenant is ordered in all things for
sure, the sure mercies of David. Although my house be not so with
God At my house. There's a lot of people in my
house in my when he talks about house in my generation in my
family in My sons and my daughters. He said there's a lot of people
in my house Don't have salvation Don't ain't entered into this
covenant and he said although my house be not so with God yet. I He hath made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things. Boy, you reckon that means that
God ordered everything to happen to us at the right time in the
right place. Look what it said. And it's in
all things, it's ordered in all things, and listen to this, and
it's sure. It's sure. There's no doubt about it. It's
sure. Huh? Oh, I need something sure, don't
you? And oh, look what he says here. And this is all my salvation. All of it. Oh my. These are the last words of David. That's why it's called the sure
mercies of David. And oh my, God gave us his last
words, David's dying words. He was the one who slayed Goliath
with a stone. He was the king, the man after
God's own heart. Before he died, he said, although
it may not be so with my family, but his last word was, God made
with me an everlasting covenant, ordered It was ordered for me
before I ever was. It was ordered. And let me say
how he talked about Christ. He said, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. David knows
about being a shepherd. They had to go get him out of
the field for Samuel to anoint him king. He talked about God's
power. I've heard once, yea, twice,
I've heard of your power. He talked about God's holiness,
talked about God's throne, talked about a redeemer. In all the blessed subjects in
the Psalms, he talked about Christ. Oh, my. And when he came to die,
and when he came to die, where did he find his rest? Where did
he find his hope? Where did he find his confidence? Where did he find his assurance?
God, God, hath made with me an everlasting covenant. He ordered
everything about it. And he said, this is all my salvation. That's his dying words. That's
going to be my dying words. Look to Christ. That's all my
salvation right there. All of it. Oh my. This is all my salvation. And
this covenant, the sixth thing, this is the sixth thing. I said
the sixth thing. This covenant is filled with
the sure mercies of David. Ain't that what I said? The sure
mercies of David. You know, we, every one of us
knows that everything in our life is temporary. Everything's temporary. A lot
of you have lost your mothers and fathers. You was a baby when
you was born. Your mother and daddy took care
of you. Now they're gone. And then you're getting older,
and one of these days you're gonna be gone, and your children's
gonna be behind. And everything is, every relationship,
everything we touch, taste, and handle is temporary. And we understand,
and we sometimes get tired of things temporary. Change and
decay all around I see. O thou that changest not, abide
with me. Look with me in Psalm 89. Psalm
89. And look in verse 20 with me.
This is what we're talking about. This is what David's talking
about. Oh my. Look what he says here. Now he said, I have found David
my servant. With my only whole, I have anointed
him. You know, Christ was the son
of David. With whom my hands shall be established, my arms
shall strengthen him. Now he's really talking about
Christ here now. The enemy shall not exact upon him, nor the son
of wickedness afflict him. I'll beat down his foes before
his face, plague them that hate But my faithfulness and my mercy
shall be with him, and in my name shall his horned strength
be exalted. I will set his hand also in the
sea, and his right hand in the rivers. He shall cry unto me,
Thou art my Father and my God, the rock of my salvation. I will
make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.
My mercy will I keep him forevermore, and my covenant shall stand fast
with him. His seed also will I make to
endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven. Who do
you reckon he's talking about? He's not talking about David
here. No, listen to this now. He's talking about his seed.
And if his children forsake my law and not in my judgments,
If they break my statutes and keep not my commandments, then,
well, he said, I'm going to visit their transgression. He said,
I'm going to visit with a rod. I'm going to chastise them. And
they're iniquity with stripes. Now listen to this. Nevertheless,
nevertheless, my loving kindness will I not utterly take from
him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not
break, nor alter the thing that's gone out of my lips. Oh, my. And I'll make with you
an everlasting covenant. All right. And this covenant
is in Christ. You know, look back over in Isaiah
42. Look at Isaiah 42. You know, this covenant's in
Christ. Look what it says in verse 4
here. I'll make with you. Covenant's in Christ. what he says, He shall not fail,
nor be discouraged. He's not going to fail. Your dad, you
know, James, your dad used to listen to that. He'd talk about
that verse all the time. He shall not fail. He shall not
even be discouraged. He won't fail. And then the last
thing I'm going to show you, 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse
3, and then I'm going to quit. Oh, I tell you, I've enjoyed
this day so very much. Appreciate you all listening
to me all these years. Oh my, this gospel still overwhelms
me, just absolutely overwhelms me. He shall not fail. Christ ain't gonna fail. It's
all my salvation. Look what he says here in verse
30. 1 Corinthians 1.30, but of him
are you in Christ Jesus. Well, how do you get in Christ?
God put you in Christ and put Christ in you. Look what he goes
on to say. Who of God? God made him this
way. Unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption, that according as it is written,
He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. You know, God has
made Christ in his birth, in his life, in his death, Christ
in his burial, Christ in his resurrection, Christ in his ascension,
Christ in his military reign, and put you in Christ. And he
put you there before the foundation of the world. He put you in Christ. Huh? I need something sure. God said, they're sure. These
mercies are sure. These ain't temporary things.
They're not temporary. Well, oh, Father, our Father, our God
and our God, and our blessed Savior, our Lord
Jesus Christ. Oh, our hearts get overwhelmed, considering you and all you did
for us, oh, before we ever were. It is you and your sovereign
mercy and grace came and told us about it, revealed it to us,
made it alive, made it vital, made it real, made it a reality
to us. The things that we can't see,
the truths, oh Lord, we can't explain sometimes. But oh, what
assurance, what comfort, what strength we get from them. And
Lord, thank you that you make the covenant. It's your covenant. It's an everlasting covenant.
And it's sure, and it's based on your mercy and your grace
given us in Christ. God bless these dear saints.
They got to get up tomorrow, go to work, got to face this
old world, got to face people that have no interest in God,
no interest in Christ, and they got to be gracious, they got
to deal with them, they got to be honest with them, got to work
with them. God bless them. God encourage them. God strengthen
them. Lord, meet their needs. And Lord,
please be mindful of our dear brothers and sisters that's not
with us through sickness. I pray again for our brother
Doc and Janie. God bless them. Lord, encourage
them, strengthen them. And others among us that are
not very well, please meet their needs for Christ's sake. Amen. Jesus Christ is made to me All
I need, all I need He alone is all my plea He is all I need
Wisdom, righteousness, and power Holiness forevermore, by redemption
full and sure, he is all I need. And he is. He is. See you Wednesday, God willing. May God bless you. Yeah, I'm over there pretending. We change. We go up and down. We go the other way. Or that's the best. Hi, everybody. I'm happy. Come on, get in there. Thirdly...