Psalm 23. Larry Criss got to go home yesterday
afternoon. That's very encouraging. I know it is for him and Robin.
They're three weeks and very gratefully got to go home. I
want to remember Daryl and Joyce. And I'm going to read the 23rd
Psalm. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth
me in the path of righteousness for his namesake. Yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil,
my cup runneth over. Surely, goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever. Look here in Psalm 23 in the
last verse, and it says, Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow
me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of
the Lord forever. Let me preface my message this
evening by five things that I don't want. Five things that I don't
want. I don't want my will. I do not
want my will. My will, I want God's will to
be done, not my will. My will would destroy me. I don't
want my way. I don't want my way. David said,
Lord, I'll take heed to my ways. I don't want my way. Don't want
my way. Third thing, I don't want God
to be fair with me. I don't want God to be fair with
me. If he does, no hope for me. And I don't want to speak for
myself when I face God. I don't want to speak for myself.
Do you? Don't want to speak for myself.
And I don't want to stand on what I've done. I want to stand
on what Christ has done. Don't want to stand on what I've
done, because everything I've done got sin in it. Everything. My tears need to be wept over. And yet, John Bunyan said this,
I still find in my heart seven abominations. John Bunyan was
an old man He spent 12 years in Bunt Bedford Jail. And the jail was just an old
rock bridge, and it had these rocks underneath it, and underneath
that bridge was a cell. And that's where he spent 12
years, in an old rock dungeon, under a bridge, people walking
back and forth across it, wagons going back and forth across it.
He spent 12 years in there because He preached the gospel, and the
government had taken over all the churches, and everybody who
didn't join the state church, which was at that time the Church
of England, then you was put out. And they brought him out
one time and asked him if he was ready to get out of jail.
He said, yes. He said, well, if you promise
not to go preach the gospel, we'll let you out. He said, just
take me back then, because the moss will grow on my eyelids
before I'll not preach the gospel when I'm let out of here. And
yet this man, when he got to be an old man, an old man, said
he found seven abominations in his heart. And the heart's deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked. And only a fool would
trust in his own heart. But the first abomination he
found in his heart was an inclining to unbelief, an inclining to
unbelief. Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. Second abomination he found was
this, suddenly, suddenly to forget the love and mercy that the Lord
Jesus manifest. Just suddenly to forget it and
live as if it didn't happen. The third abomination he found
in his heart was this, a leaning to the works of the law. A leaning
to the works of the law. You know how easy it is to lean
to the works of the law? Just say, I wouldn't do that
if it was me. That's all it takes. I couldn't
believe that he'd do that. I couldn't believe that he'd
say that. I can't believe he'd go there. That's all it takes,
is to set yourself up better than somebody else in a given
situation. As a believer now, as a believer.
And the fourth abomination he found in his heart was wanderings
and coldness in prayer. When he prayed, his mind wandered
and he had such coldness in prayer. He said that was the fourth abomination.
And the fifth abomination he found in his heart was to forget
to watch what I pray for. I pray for something, then forget
to watch for it. See what God's going to do. And
the sixth abomination he found in his heart was this. apt to
murmur, because I have no more, and yet ready to abuse what I
have." It's pretty bad about... And then the seventh abomination
he found in his heart was this, I can no more, I can do none
of those things which God commands me, not one of them, not one.
The will is present with me, but how to perform, I find not. We got the will, but how do we
do it? How do we perform? How do we
love? How do we give? How generous,
how kind, how gracious, how merciful? We got the will, but oh, we're
a million miles from it. So I'll tell you what, and beloved,
in light of these things that I've just mentioned, five things
I don't want, my will, my way, Don't want God to be fair with
me. Don't want to speak for myself and don't want to stand on what
I've done. And beloved, in light of myself, there's but one thing
I can do. Because I identify with every
one of those things. There's only one thing I can do. Trust. Trust in the mercy of God. Can't do anything else. Look
over in Psalm 52 and verse 8. Psalm 52 and 8. You know, I have trusted in His
mercy. I do trust in His mercy and hope
in His mercy, and I shall hope in His mercy. But this is what
David said here in Psalm 52a, but I'm like a green olive tree
in the house of God. I trust, I trust in the mercy
of God forever and ever. And that's what I have to do
in light of the things that I've said. David said it like this,
ìWithhold not thy tender mercies from me, O LORD. Let thy lovingkindness
and thy truth continually preserve me.î Now I heard a preacher say
one time that grace is God giving us what we donít deserve. We
donít deserve grace. If you deserved it, it wouldnít
be grace. Grace is God giving us what we
don't deserve. Mercy is God not giving us what
we do deserve. And David said, I will trust
here in verse eight. I will trust in the mercy of
the Lord forever and ever. And why will I trust? And why
would we trust in the mercy of God forever and ever? Because
of who he is. He's holy. He's righteous. He's sovereign. He's almighty. He has a purpose. He has a will.
And whatever He pleases to do, that's what He does. And so,
beloved, I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever because
of who He is. And I tell you what, I don't
want a square deal with God. I don't want justice from God.
I want mercy. I want grace. I want God's pity towards me. And people say all the time,
I don't want pity. Well, I want God's pity. You
better believe I want God's pity. I want God's compassion. I want
God's mercy. I want God's grace. And David
said, I'm going to trust in the mercy of God forever and ever. That's a long time. Now you keep
this, and I want you to look with me. over here in 2 Corinthians
chapter 1. Here's something that I just
absolutely, you've seen it before and I want you to see it again.
This is what I'm talking about, trusting in the mercies of God
forever and ever. You know, David, when I was a
priest here a few days ago or a couple of weeks ago, David
sat before the Lord, and when David went through all his prayer,
he says, you did this because you found it in your heart to
do that. God's mercy is in his heart.
Now we know God doesn't have a heart like we do, but his heart,
his heart is so far above us. That means that he actually,
he's touched by us. He can communicate with us and
he uses things that we would. We'll say, I love you with all
my heart. God says, you know, he said, David said, you found
it in your heart to do this for me. And God finds it in His heart
to show us mercy. And God has a big heart, glorious
heart, great heart, full heart, and all His heart is for His
people. And look what He said here in
2 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 3. Blessed be God, even the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now listen to this. The Father
of Mercies. I love that. The Father of Mercies. There would be no mercies if
He wasn't the Father of them. There'd be no mercies. And then
look what else it says, not only is He the Father of Mercies,
and not only that, but He's the God of all comfort. Oh my! And I'll tell you what, He's
the Father of Mercy. And it's his glory to show mercy
when Moses said, show me your glory. You know what he said? He said, I will have mercy upon
whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion upon I
will have compassion. And these mercies come from the
heart of God. And the scriptures is full, full,
full of the mercies of God. I tell you that the scripture
says that the earth is full of his mercies. I tell you His mercies,
let me give you just three of them here right off top of my
head. There's the eternal mercies of God. God's mercies didn't
start with us when we began. God's mercy started for us in
eternity. His mercies are eternal and His
mercies is as old as God is. His mercies is as full of God
is. And then there's electing mercies.
He blessed us with electing mercy. He chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. What a mercy to be chosen of
God. What a mercy for God to set his
affection on you. What a mercy that God would call
us out of darkness into his blessed light. And then there's this
enabling mercy. He enables us to look to Him
and trust Him and believe in Him and cast our lot with Him
and identify with Him in this world and everything that's in
it and hope one day to spend eternity with Him. And then there's
covenant mercies. He said in Ezekiel 36, He said,
I'm gonna make a new covenant. And this is the covenant I'm
going to make. He said, I'm going to take out the stony heart and
I'm going to put in a heart of flesh. And I'm going to take
out that old spirit and I'm going to put in a new spirit. And I
tell you what, He gives us a new heart and He gives us a new spirit. He preserves us. He cleans us.
And David said it like this when he is an old man on his deathbed
now. on his deathbed he was on his
deathbed and you know what he said these be the words of the
sweet psalmist of Israel he said God hath made with me an everlasting
covenant ordered in all things and is sure and this is all my
salvation this is all my desire And you know what Isaiah called
them? He said, those are the sure mercies of David. That what
God did for David in a covenant, that's what he did for us in
the covenant of grace. And I tell you there in Psalm
23.1, I'll tell you another mercy. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. You know what that means? We're
satisfied. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. What do you want that you ain't
got? What do you have that you didn't receive? We're satisfied with Him. The
Lord's my shepherd. What do I want for? And look
how many twice he says here, he leadeth me beside the still
waters. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness. He makes
me to lie down. And those are things he does
for us. He don't ask us to do it. He don't say, would you please
do it? He said, this is what I do for
you. I'll lead you and I'll make you. And boy, to make us lie
down in these green pastures, to lead us beside the, and that
still waters means quiet, calm waters. and the paths of righteousness
for His namesake. And oh beloved, and I'll tell
you something else about His mercy. Titus said it like this,
God, not according to our works, but according to His abundant
mercy given us in Christ, that God has saved us not by our works,
but according to His abundant mercy given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began, justifying grace, justifying mercies. And beloved, His mercy is what
keeps us. And you know what, the Apostle
Paul said it like this, and he used mercies as a motive for
us to give ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I beseech
you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, W-H-O-L-L-Y, completely as living
sacrifices under God. And He used mercy as the motive
to do that. And I'm going to tell you why
I'm going to trust in the mercies of God forever and ever. Because
of what I am. What else can I do? What else
can I do? I'm a sinner. What else am I
going to do? I know I'm a sinner. I'm a safe sinner. I rejoice
in the mercies of God. But still yet I'm a sinner. What
would I do without the mercies of God? If I didn't know God
and the mercies of God as a sinner, what would I do? What would I
do? And I tell you, I'll go so far as to say there's not anything
that I've ever said, done, or anything I've done that I haven't
got sin involved in it. We can't come in a worship service
without sin. I can't preach without sin. I
can't pray without sin. I can't weep without sin. I tell
you what, I trust in the mercy of God because of what I am,
a sinner, and because of I have no strength. What strength have
I got? Where am I going to get any strength
to stand? Where am I going to get any strength
to live in this world? Where am I going to get the strength
to carry on with what I have to deal with in myself, just
in myself? I don't have any strength. I
have no spiritual strength. I got some physical strength
to do something out here while I'm working or something like
that. But when it comes to spiritual things, I have no strength whatsoever. In fact, Christ died, the scripture
says, when we were yet without strength. In due time, Christ
died for the ungodly. And I'll tell you what, if you
got any strength at all, he said, my strength, my strength is made
perfect in just how weak you really are. And oh my, not only
I don't have any strength, but I have no goodness. I have no
goodness. People say, well, that's a pretty
good fellow. You don't know the half of it. You don't know. Listen,
I've said this so many times. If people really knew what I
was like, they'd never have me in their house and I'd never
get to eat at their table. If you know what I was like on
the inside, you would have nothing to do with it. No goodness. Where's it at? Where's it at?
Where's the goodness in my heart? Where's the goodness in my mind?
Where's the goodness in my works? Where's it at? And I'll tell
you what, I'm without a righteousness of my own that God will accept. I don't have a righteousness
that God will accept if I stand in my own. And I know that I
can't please God. I cannot please Him in this flesh.
And I know that I cannot come to God if God doesn't first come
to me. I won't call on Him if He don't
call on me. I won't turn to Him unless He
turns to me. And here's the awfulest thing
about it. I cannot change myself. I can't. I can thank all I want
to, but it ain't going to change my stature one little bit, is
it? I can thank the best of myself.
I can say, boy, you're something, and you're really this, and you're
really that, and you accomplished this, and you accomplished that.
But I can do all that. And you know what? It does not
change who I am and what I am of one iota, no matter what I
think. I can't change myself. And at
my best state, just vanity, vanity. And I'll tell you why. I'm gonna
trust in the mercies of the Lord forever. You know why? Because
I need it, I need it. Look in with me in Luke 9, 11.
Look with me in Luke 9, verse 11. You know, a Syrophoenician woman brought
her daughter to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the first words out
of her mouth was, have mercy upon me and upon my daughter. That's the first thing. Bottom
is, Jesus was passing by. Heard that Jesus was passing
by. Heard the commotion. You know what he said? Jesus,
thou son of David, have mercy. The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself, but the publican beat upon his breast and said,
God, be merciful to me, thee sinner, I need it. Look what
he said in Psalm, I mean, excuse me, Romans nine and verse 11. He went out into a desert place
and the people, when they knew it, followed him. And he received
them and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and listen to
this, and healed them, that had need, need of healing. I need it. I need it. Don't you? I need it. And I know this, no mercy, no
salvation. No mercy, no salvation. And I
tell you what, he said, I will trust in the mercies of the Lord
forever and ever. Lord withhold not thy tender
mercies from me. And I tell you what, this is
the cry of those who have been shown mercy, but they alone appreciate
it. Do you know, let me just say
a few things here. I know it's awful hot in here,
but listen, no mercy. You know what? If there was no
mercy, God did not have mercy. There'd be no preacher. There'd
be no preacher. There'd be no word. There'd be
no saints praying for one another. Without no mercy, there'd be
no truth. Without mercy, there'd be no
gospel. Without mercy, there'd be no church. Without mercy,
there'd be no Holy Spirit. Without mercy, there'd be no
justification. Without mercy, there'd be no
sanctification. No wonder David said, I'll trust
in the mercy of the Lord forever and ever. And I'll tell you another
thing. If there was no mercy, there'd
be no comfort for this life. No comfort for this life whatsoever. When you got sick, you'd just
be sick. If you lost your job, you just
lost your job. If you didn't, there'd be no
peace, there'd be no money to pay your bills, there'd be no
friends, no family. And I'll tell you the third reason
why we need mercy. Because we have no merit. We have no merit. But now wait
a minute, look what it said here in Psalm 23. Look what it said
in the last part of that verse. Surely, goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life. Oh my, ain't that something? There's two people behind me
right now. Goodness on my right hand, mercy
on my left. Goodness over here, mercy over
here. And wherever I go, they go with
me. If I'm driving a car, they're with me in the back. There it
is. He said they're going to follow us. They're going to follow
us. That's what He says. And I'll tell you why. You know
why goodness and mercy is going to follow us all the days of
our life? Because of the way God is pleased to show mercy.
He shows His mercy through His blessed Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why goodness and mercy
will follow us. Our Lord Jesus Christ is through
Him that God gives everything that we have, everything that
we need. Everything that He is, He gives
us. Whatever Christ has, that's what
we got. Whatever Christ did, we did. Where He is, we are. And that's what He says. He said,
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Mercy and
truth met together. Where'd they do that at? Where'd
righteousness and peace kiss one another? On the cross. Where'd
mercy and truth meet together at? On the cross. Mercy can be
shown because truth's been upheld. And all beloved in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Let's look with me in Titus 3.
Look over here in Titus 3. That little book, three chapter
book right before the book of Hebrews. Look here in Titus chapter
3. Look what he said here. You know,
God gives us mercy through the Lord Jesus. That's why I know
that goodness and mercy is going to follow me. Look what he said
in verse 5. Titus 3, 5, not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. By the washing of regeneration
and renewing of the Holy Ghost, listen to it, which he shed on
us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. That, being justified
by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of
eternal life. Oh, wow. And I'll tell you another
reason why I know goodness and mercy is gonna follow me. Because
of God's sovereignty. He said in Romans 9, he said,
this purpose, for this reason, for this purpose, I raised up
Moses. I mean, Pharaoh, that I might
show forth my power in him. And he said, he endured with
much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.
But here's what God did. He said, it's not of him that
willeth, it's not of him that runneth, but it's of God that
showeth mercy. Now there's vessels of wrath
and there's vessels of mercy. I could have just as easy have
been a vessel of wrath had it not pleased God to make me a
vessel of mercy. Ain't that right? A vessel of
dishonor or a vessel of honor? And that's why he says we have
this treasure in earthen vessels. We're just clay pots. And we're
vessels of mercy. I could have been Pharaoh, a
vessel of wrath, instead of a vessel of mercy. And I'll tell you another
reason why goodness and mercy is going to follow me. Micah
says this, that God absolutely delights in mercy. You know what? To say that God
delights in something, just delights in it. You've been around people
that just makes your hour or your time just delightful, just
makes everything just light up and it makes things good and
makes things so easy and makes things so enjoyable. Well, God
says, you know what that I delight in more than anything I do? Showing
mercy. I delight to do it. I enjoy doing
it. And He's abundant, abundant,
abundant in mercy. He said that you know according
to His abundant mercy, 1 Peter 1 verse 3, according to His abundant
mercy, He hath begotten us again unto a living hope through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Huh? And even when we were dead
in trespasses and sins, is rich in mercy, even while we were
dead in trespasses and truth. And look over here in Psalm 33
and 11. You're looking here at Psalm
33. Here's your verse of scripture. I think it'll be a blessing to
you. 33, 18, excuse me. 33, 18. Oh, here's your good
verse of scripture. Behold, the eye of the Lord is
upon them that fear Him, upon them that hope in his mercy." And James says this is mercy
rejoices against judgment. What does that mean? Mercy rejoices
against judgment. Judgment is sure judgment is
it's a poor and under man wants to die and after this the judgment
But because of the grace of God, because of what God did for us
in Christ, mercy can look at judgment and rejoice against
it. You know why? Because we've already
faced the judgment in our Lord Jesus Christ, and we'll never
have to face it again. We've done face judgment, so
whenever we hear somebody talking about judgment, have mercy in
us and the grace of God in us rejoices against that judgment
because we're not going to go into it we're not going to face
it we've done done it in Christ and then let me show you this
and I'll be done Paul said in Hebrews chapter 4 he said we
come to a throne of grace to find mercy and obtain to find
help and obtain mercy in time of need And Paul said it like
this. We, having received this ministry,
we faint not, having received mercy. That's why we don't faint,
having received mercy. And that's why I know, that's
why I know, surely goodness and mercy shall follow thee all the
days of my life. You know, grief and sorrow followed
our Lord Jesus Christ all the days of His life that I might
have this sovereign, eternal, rich, and abundant mercy given
me in Christ. And then this is what's going
to happen because of goodness and mercy following us all the
days of our life, that we'll dwell in the house of the Lord
one of these days forever. Right now, right now, we're walking
through the valley of the shadow of death. That's all it is, is
a shadow. And that's how we're walking through it. But we got
two companions, constant companions, goodness and mercy following
us. You know, whenever you walk in
someplace and you're a believer, you just think of that one of
these times when you walk in and everybody's, you know, you're
someplace out in the world or something, you know, and you
look behind you and say, boy, these folks don't have a clue
who my companions are. You know, just think about it.
You know, if you knew who my companion was back here, you
all pay attention to me. You think about that next time
you walk in a restaurant or go someplace out in the world. Just
think about, boy, all this rigmarole going on around here and everybody
in a tizzy doing this, that, and the other. You know, Christmas
and Thanksgiving's coming, and people lose their mind over these
holidays. And they get all, you know, get all worried and stressed
out and everything like that. But while they're all getting
in these tizzies, you just say, boy, boy, I got goodness over
here and mercy over there. These folks can do what they
want to. All right. Our Father, in the
blessed name of Christ, our Lord, our blessed, blessed Savior,
our master, Lord, we're like the Like the publican, we pound
our breast, pound our heart, and say, God, be merciful to
me, the sinner. Lord, I don't want to get up
tomorrow without your mercies. And you said your mercies were
new every morning, new every single morning. And Lord, so
when we get up, It'll be another day, another day of looking to
you, trusting you, and hoping in your mercy and trusting in
you forever and ever and ever. Thank you for the calling. Thank
you for the grace. Thank you for the mercy. Thank
you for your blessed truth. Bless it to the good of the hearers
and may it bring forth fruit to your glory. In Christ's holy
name we pray, amen.