Amen. He is. We're completing him. Look with me in this 146th Psalm. I pray that the Lord would cause
this to be a blessing today or this evening. The first verse
says, praise you the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul. Now you
know, people go around saying praise
the Lord. They'll sit around the service
and say hallelujah and blessed Jesus. And often times they just
become flippant words. Flippant, flippant words. Meaningless
religious words. But when we speak about our God,
and when we speak about Him, We got to be very, very careful
about how we treat his name, how we speak about him. We don't want to be guilty of
taking his name in vain. Just sit around the service,
say, oh, you know, and lift your hands and just do it because
it's a habit. You know, we don't want to be
guilty of taking his name in vain. And that's why, you know,
the scriptures tells us very plainly that God's in the heavens,
we're on the earth. Let your words be few. And when
you enter into the house of God, don't enter in with the sacrifices
of a fool. So, you know, that's one thing
about, I believe, believers, that they are very reverent toward
God. Very reverent toward His word.
Very careful about how they address Him and what they say about Him.
So he says here, let me start in verse 1. Praise the Lord,
O my soul. You know, true praise, real praise
to God is not just lip service. But it has to come from the heart.
And it comes from the heart. And it comes from the soul. That's
where it comes from. Our Lord Jesus told the Pharisees,
He said, these people draw nigh unto me with their lips. Now
not with their lips, but their heart is far from me. And they
worship me in vain. You know, and I tell you this,
don't let our lips speak what the heart doesn't feel. Don't
let our lips say something that doesn't come from our heart,
especially when we're talking about God. And if we can't speak
from our heart, We can't speak from our heart when we call on
Him and draw near to Him. Let's just not say anything.
Just don't utter a word. You know when the Lord can be
praised and the Lord is mostly praised in the heart without
anybody ever uttering a word. That happens all the time. Everybody
in this building has done it countless times in their lives.
And Hannah proved that. You remember when Hannah went
up to Jerusalem, went up to the feast and she was praying. in
the tabernacle, and Eli was sitting on his seat, and she was praying,
and her lips was moving, but she didn't say anything. He said,
well, she's drunk. But no, she says, no, I'm calling
on the Lord. She never said a word, but she
was calling on God from her heart. And that's what we do, praise
the Lord, oh my soul, my soul. And I tell you what, and then
he says there in verse two, while I live, while I live, I will
praise the Lord. You know, as long, you know why
we're living? We live by the will and good
pleasure of God. And that's as long as we live,
praise the Lord. Ain't that right? That's what
he's talking about here. You know, I live by His will,
I live by His good pleasure, I live by His sovereignty, I
live by His ordering, I live by His decrees. And you know
if he gives us, if he's the one that gives us life, he's the
one that sustains our life. He said, the apostle said over
this is by him we live, move, and have our being. We don't
get it no place else. And I tell you what, and the
reason, another reason why, not only because we live and we live
by him and live because of him. All he's got to do to take us
is just stop, That quick. But I tell you what, here is...
If we're born again spiritually, that's more the reason to praise
God. That's more the reason to praise
the Lord. Because we live spiritually.
It's by His will in our Lord Jesus Christ that we even have
a new birth. That He gave us a new heart,
a new nature. Gave us a new birth, regenerated
us. We were born not of the will
of flesh, not of the will of man, not of blood, but we were
born by God. You know, we got, we're just
born of God. And I tell you, we'll be able
to praise Him one of these days, as He ought to be praised. David
said, when I awake in thy likeness, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm
gonna be satisfied and I'm gonna sing with that multitude around
the throne. We're all gonna sing a new song.
unto Him that washed us from our sins in His own blood. Oh, unto Him be praise and glory
forever and ever. And then look what He says in
the last part of that verse 2. He said, I'm going to sing praises
unto my God while I have any being. Well, I tell you what,
unless we cease being here, we're going to continue being there.
So we're going to be praising Him either here or there eternally. And that's going to be forever.
And then look what he says here in verse 3. This is very, very
important right here. Put not your trust in princes,
nor in the Son of Man, in whom there is no help. No help. That no help means salvation.
You know, and he tells us here, don't you put your trust in any
man. Just don't do it. I don't care how high they go
in this world. I don't care what position they
hold in this world. I don't care how high they go
in politics, how high they go in religion, how high they go
in any field or any career or anything that goes on in this
world. I don't care how high they go. Our Lord is telling
us here, Derek, don't put your trust in man. And you know why? Because there's no help in him. There's no help in him. We can
bear one another's burden, but when it comes to actually helping,
in a spiritual matter, we're just like everybody else. We're
in God's hands. And you know, and he goes on
to say here, and he said, and there's certainly no salvation
in a man. David discourages, he says, don't
even put your trust in princes. And he was a king. Here's a king
of Israel telling everybody, don't you put your trust in me.
Don't you put your trust in my nobles. Don't you put those trust
in my counselors, those that's gathered around me. Don't do
it. Don't do it. Oh my, don't put it in any man
or in themselves. Don't even put no confidence
in yourself. Don't even put no trust in yourself.
You know who I trust less than anybody else in this building?
Me. You know, I know me better than
I know anybody else. Yeah, oh my. And you know, there's
no good in the flesh. And every time flesh has had
an opportunity to prove how good it is, it's failed every single
time. Tell me one time that flesh has
ever done anything good. Huh? Who ever done anything good
in the flesh? That's what he's saying here.
Oh my. Every circumstance. For a man
to put confidence in man is like a beggar looking for another
beggar to get some food. It's like a blind man saying,
look here, give me a hand. And I'm blind, you know, another
blind man grabbed another blind man by the head and said, lead
me, lead me. That's the same thing as putting
trust and confidence in a man. And just as sure as you do, God
will take and tear that down to where he'll make him do something
and say, oh, he did that, I can't believe he did it. He will not
let us look to anybody for anything. He won't do it. And I said, oh
my, there's no confidence in the flesh. And why not? Why not put no confidence in
man? Well, David gives us some reasons
here. In verse 4. First of all, he
says, his breath goeth forth. His breath goeth forth. You know
all it takes. Man dies. That's just a fact. That's a fact that's going to
happen to all of us. And his breath goeth forth. He'll draw
his last breath sometime. Oh my, you know man dies for
a want of a little air. I've seen several folks, Gary
Spiker, he's struggling for air. I've seen folks that struggled
and struggled and struggled for air. I've seen folks, you know when
they get up in the morning, the first thing they do, they have
to have oxygen all the time. And man dies for one of a little
air. No matter how much he knows,
has, or how high he stands, when he stops breathing, life is gone. Life is gone. And you know, we
was talking about your mother and daddy today. They both died
very well, very gently. I tell you what, they draw, both
of them drew their last breath. And we was happy for both of
them. I know y'all miss him, but I was happy for both of them.
You know why? Because when believers stop their
last breath, they're leaving here to go be with Christ. Ain't
that right? Oh, that's no reason for... And
then look what it says. Not only is his breath going
forth, but then it says he returneth to his earth. You see that says
returneth to his earth. You know why it says he returns
to his earth? Because he was taken out of the
earth, he was taken out of the dust, and he's going to go back
to the dust. He come up out of the earth,
and he's going to go right back to the earth. Oh, how can one so frail give
to me everything that I need? He's returning to the earth.
Oh, the dust is his, he's made from it, and he's going to go
right back to it. You know our dear dear brother Walter Groover,
you know he's been gone a week tomorrow, a week tomorrow. And he's been in pain for months,
not able to get out of bed, but he's not bed fast anymore. And then look what else happens
here. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth, and
listen to this, in that very day, that day when he leaves
this world, in that day he takes his last breath, in that very
day, his thoughts perish. All of his thoughts, all of his
plans, all of his hopes, all of his expectations, They
just, they go with him. When it's over and done with,
every thought he ever thought, every expectation he ever had, every thought, every plan will
perish with him. He withers like a flower and
wilts like a flower and nothing he ever thought remains and I'm
thankful for that. You know, you hear people all
the time say, your mom was looking down on you from heaven. Oh my,
I hate that. That would be awful to have to
look down here and see what's going on. And when people get
up there, husbands ain't husbands and wives ain't wives. Our Lord
said, every man is given in marriage, but in heaven they don't do that.
And that's why He said His thoughts perish with Him. Oh, you know
the only thing that remains in this world? that will abide forever
even here and when we get into eternity, the word of God abides
forever and ever. And I'll tell you one thing,
our thoughts are not his thoughts. And then look what he says in
verse five. Happy, that word happy means blessed. Happy is
he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in
the Lord his God. Oh my. joyful, is he that hath the God
of Jacob for his help. And listen to this, whose hope
is in the Lord his God. His God. The Lord his God. Who
is this God of Jacob? Well, first and foremost, he's
a God of covenant. He's a God of covenant, covenant
mercy. Mercy. He said, Jacob have a
Lord. Jacob have a Lord. Esau have
a hated. His mercies are sure because
He chose us in Christ, predestinated us to be like Christ, and gave
us our blessed hope in Christ, and everything we have is in
Him. And we get covenant mercies every
single day from God. Every day! You know why? Because he chose
us in Christ before the foundation of the world. We're his beloved.
We're his elect. We're his chosen. We're his sheep.
We're his vessels of mercy. We're his vessels of honor. And
I tell you what, he gonna see that we are, we got what's necessary
for us every single day. He's a covenant God. Secondly,
secondly, the happiest he has the God of Jacob, is he's the
God of Revelation. Do you remember when Jacob had
to leave home? And he got there one night and
he laid down in Bethel, a place called Bethel. You know why it
began to be called Bethel? Because he said, he seen God
there, this is indeed the house of God. But he laid down one
night and he had a stone for his pillow. And he just about
got to sleep and all of a sudden somebody rushed and got a hold
of him. Somebody laid hold on him. Oh listen, who are you? My name's
Wonderful. That's what his secret means,
Wonderful. And he laid hold on Jacob. Everybody talks about
Jacob laying hold on God. God Christ laid hold on Jacob. And he changed Jacob, he changed
his walk, he couldn't walk the same cause he'd throw his hip
out of joint, die out of joint. And not only that, but he revealed
himself and called him right then and there, Israel. He went
from being Jacob to Israel, a prince with God. And I'll tell you what,
how in the world he know that? God came to where he was. and
lay hold on him. And God comes to where you are
and he lays hold on you. Huh? And once he lays hold on
you, you don't never ever want him to turn loose. Do you? Don't turn loose on me, Lord!
Everybody says, hold on to his head. No, no, Lord. Listen, I'm
too weak to hold on to your head. You hold on to me. You hold on
to me. And here's the third thing. Oh
my. You know, He gave us His name.
Our Lord gave us His name. And you know, He's the Lord. He's Jehovah, our God. He's a
just God. And He's the Savior. And I tell
you what, that's how, you know, Jacob had to understand that
night, he said, God's in this place. And he called it Bethel,
the house of God. And in Christ, in our Lord Jesus
Christ, God can be a just God, and charge our sins and lay our
sins on Christ and turn around and be just and put our sins
on Him and turn around and give us His righteousness and how
can He be just and just in Christ? He punished Christ so He can
justly forgive us for our sins because we don't have them. Christ
put them away. They're gone. Gone, gone, gone. And then look what it says here.
Oh, listen, he said that again, verse five, happy as he's had
the God of Jacob for his help. For his help. Oh, my. You know, let me show you Psalm
130. Go back to this. Look at this
here. You know, he's a he's a he's a help. And I tell you, I don't
know about you, but I need help. I need it all the time, all the
time, all the time. What it said here in verse 7.
In Romans 1.30 in verse 7, I think. Yeah, verse 7. Let Israel hope
in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him
plenty is redemption. You know, He's our help and a
very present help in time of trouble, and He's our hope. And
here's another reason back over here in Psalm 146. Why we can't
trust men, and if we got any sense at all, any wisdom at all,
why we trust our God. This is the reason why. Which
made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is therein. And
then not only that, but he keeps truth forever. That's a good
reason to trust him, ain't it? The God we trust, He created
the heavens. He made the heavens. He made
the earth. I was reading an article the
other day, and I tell you, it was wonderful what this thing,
you know, that God made something out of nothing. It was absolutely
nothing. Nothing. And God took out of
nothing, He created the whole world. Out of nothing, he created
a heaven and an earth. Out of nothing, he created a
sea. Out of nothing, he created all the mysteries that's in the
sea. Out of nothing, he did all that. And I'll tell you what,
when he did something for us, he was doing something for people
that are nothing. Huh? And we're the first ones
to admit it. Who are you? Nothing. Who are
you? Nobody. Can't build a church
without you. Oh, yes, we can. Oh, yes, we
can. A man thinks way too much of
himself. But oh my, he made the heavens. And this and what on
did he make the heavens, but he's going to make a new heaven
for us. And he's going to make a new
earth for us one of these days. And I tell you, and he's the
only one that can make us fit for heaven. If He made the earth,
He can preserve us while we're on this earth and supply every
need that we have. And He made the sea, and you
know how many mysteries are in the sea? And I'll tell you what,
He saved, you know who He saved? That was the Red Sea one time.
God created the Red Sea. You know why He created the Red
Sea? To drown Pharaoh. He just, just as quick as His
children got over there, the water come back. He just, He
created to kill somebody, destroy somebody. Oh my, I tell you that we can
get over the sea, you know why? Because He created the sea. And
out of all of our circumstances we can say Jehovah Shama, the
Lord is present. And then look what it says, He
keepeth truth forever. He is true to every promise He
ever made. He is true to His covenant. He'll never fail in His covenant.
And He is true to His word. Every word that He says in His
blessed word is true. True, true, true. And I tell
you, He is true to His Son. He said, I am the Lord and I
change not. And out of all the gifts He gives
us and all the callings He gives us, they're without repentance. He ain't gonna ever change His
mind. Oh my. Then look what else is said here
in verse 7. This is another reason why we trust Him. We can trust
our Lord to Him because He executeth judgment for the oppressed. You
know, there's a lot of oppression in this world. A lot of oppression
in this. A lot of oppression in America.
There really is a lot of oppression. And a lot of oppression everywhere.
There's a lot of oppression. A lot of it. And I won't go into
detail about it, but if you want to know from me personally, you
can ask me sometime and I'll tell you what it's like to be
oppressed, even in America. But he's a just judge. He's a
just judge. Judge. Judge. And what a joy
to commit our care and our defense and our future to such a ruler. He's a just judge. There's not
very many just judges in this world. They're influenced by
too many people. Influenced by too many people. I mean, even our Supreme Court.
It's influenced. It's sold. They're supposed to
be, not supposed to be there, but they are. It's awful to say
that. But we can trust our ruler, our Lord, because He executeth
judgment. And I've said this time and time
again, there ain't nobody, nowhere, getting by with nothing. Have y'all heard that story Bo
Barnard told one time? He was in a little old building
out in the country, you know, and he's preaching there. This
fellow comes around on Sunday and he had his tractor and he's
just plowing around and picking corn. And every day he's picking
corn, that's what he's doing. He's driving around, around the
church building, picking the corn. And the tractor running,
just lousy corn, that combine, ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch planted on Sunday and I reaped
on Sunday. And he said, I reaped the most
corn I've ever reaped. What do you think about that?
He said, God don't pay off in bushels of corn. And he don't, does he? No, he
don't pay off bushels of corn. And that's what most people think. Huh? Oh my. Then not only that,
but he give us food to the hungry. Oh my. Oh, gives food to the
hungry. Oh, he said, and I'm hungry.
I'm hungry and thirst after righteous, don't you? And then there's people
that he gives food to. He gives food, both physical
food and spiritual food. It comes from God. This is one
of the greatest blessings, and I told my dear wife this other
day, I said, if you'd have told me that I would live like I live,
eat like I eat, while the clothes that I have, the shoes that I
have, the money that I have, if you'd have told me that years
ago, I'd have said, you're nutty in a fruitcake. And all I can
tell you is that God gave every bit of it to me. If I want a
steak, I can buy a steak. If I want a ham, I can get a
ham. Where'd those things come from?
I sure didn't come up with it on my own. Everything I've got,
everything I've got. I had holes in my shoes when
I was in first year of high school. put cardboard, took milk cartons,
and cut the milk cartons out and stuck them in the bottom
of my shoes and on the inside. And that's how bad things were. And I went one time to get bread
and milk. I just barely had enough to get
that. And on the way back, a couple of bears met me in a little alleyway
there and took my bread, took my milk, and took my money. I
lived in a place where folks was mean. So I'm telling you,
whatever I've got, I'm a beggar. I stick out my hand and God fills
it for me. Ain't that right? People say,
well, I made all this on my own. I can't say that. I can't say
that. Oh, no. I can't say that. And
he could have left me just like that. But he didn't. Look at them nice
shoes, boy, nice shoes. Nice tie. Nice new shirt. First time I've wore a new shirt.
Where'd all that come from? That's what I'm telling you. He feeds the hungry. Gives us
things spiritually. And so he's the just judge. He
executes judgment, gives food to the hungry, and then look
what else it says there. The Lord looses the prisoners.
So he's got three things here that we may trust the Lord for.
Justice, bread, when we're hungry, and freedom. He said he looses
us, free from sin's penalties, power, and someday from his very,
very presence. And then I want you to notice
this. I'll hurry up. Look what it says here now in
verse You know it starts there in verse seven, where the Lord
looses the prisoners. And in verse eight and nine,
the Lord's name's mentioned five times in these two verses. The Lord opened the eyes of the
blind. The Lord raises them that are
bowed down. The Lord loveth the righteous.
The Lord preserveth the strangers. He relieveth the father and the
widow, but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down. And now
five times the Lord's name's mentioned here. Oh, He's our
God, He's our Savior, He's our God in Christ Jesus. And He says,
you know, the Lord Jesus came to set the prisoner free. Well, He said He loses the prison.
He had to lose us. He said, you know what, go over
to such and such a place and you'll find on you, go over there. And if
somebody said anything to you, he said, I said, Lucy, and let
him go. And Christ said, Lucy, and let
him go. And he said, Lucy, and we're
gone. I mean, he saved us. And then look what else he said.
And I tell you, he opened the eyes of the blind. Oh, remember
when your eyes were opened and you said, oh my, I see it, I
see it, I see it. You know why God opens our eyes
to see, first and foremost, the glory of God. Oh, we see His
glory. We see His glory in Christ. We
see the glory of His person. And oh, we need Him more than
anything in this world. Oh, God opened our, and the first
time He opened our eyes, when we saw Christ, we were satisfied
we went to rest on that very moment. And listen to this now. And then he raises them that
are bowed down. Oh my. How many people right
now are bowed down that we know of? Bowed down. They're in distress. They're in distress. Oh my. In distress over their health.
In distress over their breathing. In distress over their bodily
body. And in despair. How many people
are in despair? Right now in despair. And then
those that are in sickness and old age. Oh bow down with old
age. There's a fella that walks over
where we do and he can't even look up. He walks like that.
He can't even look up. You know if he looks he can look
straight ahead. But he can't look left or right because he's
bowed over so bad. Old age. Oh, but He raises us
up. Those that are bowed down. Oh,
you're in depression? You're in despair? You're in
distress? Oh, He raises you up. Then look what it says. He loves
the righteous. You know why He loves the righteous?
Because He gave it to us. He gave it to us. It's not ours.
It was not ours, he gave it to us. That's why he loves it. And
he loves those who are righteous, because he made them righteous.
Oh my, then look what else it says there. And he preserves
the strangers. You know, look over here in Psalm
39 with me, verse 12. You know, it talked about Abraham. Abraham being a He said he confessed that he
is a stranger and a pilgrim in this world because he looked
for a city and a builder who was God. And look what it says
here. He preserves the strangers. We're
strangers in this world. We really are. We're strangers
and pilgrims in this world. We don't feel comfortable in
this world. You have to go out and make a
living, but just as quick as you get home, you want to get
home. And as quick as you have a service, you want to be in
that service. You do, you do. Look what he said here in verse
12, Psalm 39. Hear my prayer, O Lord. Give
ear unto my cry. Hold not thy peace at my tears. Listen to this, for I'm a stranger
with thee. What does he mean, I'm a stranger with you? God's
a stranger to most people. God's a stranger in his own world.
And then look what he says here. I'm a stranger with thee, and
I'm a sojourn with thee. And all my fathers were too. Alright, I'm going to wind this
up, and I'll tell you, if God blesses us to see God's grace
given us in our Lord Jesus Christ, given all by, if we can lay hold
by His grace over every promise in these verses, and rest there,
find happiness there, joy there, peace there, Because everything
we have in Christ is ours. And then look what he does now.
The Lord preserves the stranger. But now look down there in the
bottom of that verse. But the wearer of the wicked,
he turns upside down. You imagine how they're going
to feel one of these days. They think they got this. You
hear people say all the time, they got the world by the tail
and it's on a drought. And down he'll drag. Listen,
he'll take the wicked. He's going to turn them upside
down. They said, Paul, he that turned the world upside down
has come here. No, no. He was setting the world right
up. But they was the one who was upside down. Paul was the
right side up. And they said he turned the world
upside down. To them, he turned the world
upside down. Because they was upside down. Huh? Ain't that
right? Oh, listen. And oh, he's going
to turn them. And then look what he says here
in verse 10. And this is why we trust him. This is why we
trust Him. And that's why we don't trust
men, and that's why we're not going to... If you trust men,
you'll end up perishing. If you trust in God, then you'll
live. And look at this, the Lord shall reign forever. How long
is that? As long as He is. As long as
He is. And look what He says. Even thou,
God, O Zion. Who are we? We're Zion. Unto
all generations. And he ended right where he started. Praise ye the Lord. Amen. Our Father, thank you. Oh, blessed
be your name. How glorious you are. How thankful
we are. Lord, we do praise you. Praise you from the depths of
our souls. We can't praise you enough. We can't honor you enough.
We can't glorify you enough. But Lord, we never get tired
of trying. It's in our hearts to do it perfectly.
And someday, perfect it shall be. And we thank you for that. Lord, bless these dear saints
as they go home. And preserve them and keep them.
We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. 51 in the hymn book. Fifty-one. Let's stand and sing
this. Then you'll be at liberty to go. Fifty-one. This is a good one to close out
with when you think of the name. Praise the Savior, ye who know
Him, who can tell how much we owe Him. Gladly let us render
to Him every hour and hour. Jesus is the name that charms
us. He for conflict fits 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 false nor dark can sever
those he loves from him. Keep us, Lord, oh, keep us believing. To thyself and still believing,
to the hour of our receiving, promise joy. I love this last verse. Then
we shall be where we would be. Then we shall be what we would
be. Things that are not, never could
be, soon shall be our own.