Now, I've taught him a message
this evening, Psalm 65, Happy is the man, or blessed is the
man. He said here in Psalm 65, Praise waiteth for thee, O God,
in Zion, and unto thee shall the vow be performed. O thou
that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. Iniquities
prevail against me, as for our transgressions thou shalt purge
them away." Now listen to this, "'Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell
in thy courts. We shall be satisfied with the
goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.'" Now when we
find out this there, like in verse four, "'Blessed is the
man Blessed is the man is used so many times in the scriptures.
I said this the other day. That word blessed means to be
happy, to be happy. The attitude, the beatitudes
all start with blessed art thou, blessed art thou, blessed is
the man, blessed is the man, blessed is the soul. And so here
are several passages in the scriptures that start with these four words.
And there's no way in the world I can get to all of them, but
I want to notice first who it is that's called blessed. He
said, blessed is the man. A man. A man's the one that's
called blessed. That's the man. That's what he's
described as. And then describing who is the
blessed man is simply that. He's a man. He's a man. And as a man, he's subject to
all the infirmities of a man. Infirmities of the flesh, the
common sorrows of mankind, humanity, And when you look at it, man,
just being a man, blessed is the man. Didn't say blessed is
the king, blessed is the rich, blessed is the poor, blessed
is the educated. Didn't say any of those things.
He said it's just blessed is the man, not one better than
another. The distinction in man is of grace, always of grace. It's never of nature. I don't
care how cultivated, sophisticated somebody gets or how ignorant
somebody is, the distinction that God makes in men is all
of grace, never of nature. Never of nature. And the most
blessed man is still just a man. I don't care how blessed he is,
he's still just a man. Subject to pain, subject to sickness,
subject to sorrow, called to endure trials and losses and
troubles and heartaches in this world, and yet, He is a blessed
man. He's a blessed man. He's subject
to infirmities. I've got lots of infirmities.
I told you this morning. Slow fall. That's a bad infirmity. I got other ones I ain't gonna
tell you about. Quick temper. We have the infirmity of a quick
temper. Sometimes we get a high and a haughty spirit when somebody
tries to tell us something. God tells us what we're doing
wrong, or how we're doing something wrong, or we don't know something
that we think we know. We get kind of high and haughty
about it. But as a man, because he is a man, he must have some
infirmity. Yet it says, blessed is the man. Yet he's blessed. He doesn't
have any great imminent position. It don't say here, blessed is
the king. It don't say here, blessed is the scholar. It don't
say here, blessed is the rich. It don't say, blessed is the
master of divinity. No, no. You know what it says?
Blessed is the man whom thou choosest. Blessed is the man
that grace makes different. And who maketh things that differ?
And, O beloved, whatever grace does for a man, that's what makes
him blessed. And let's look at this first
one here. Blessed is the man. Now, listen to what it says.
whom thou choosest." Oh, here we have election. Blessed is
the man whom thou choosest. You know what makes election
so blessed and so wondrous? First of all, it is who it is
that does the choosing. God does the choosing. God makes
the distinction. Men want to make the distinction
here, but God makes the distinction. God makes the distinction. It's
who does the electing. And here's another thing that
really, really makes election blessing. It's who He chooses. You look at you. God's elected
you. God chose you. God sent His affection
on you. And look at who you are, and
you say then, oh, blessed is the man whom Thou choosest. That
God would choose me? That God would set His affection
on me? That God, before the world ever
began, would call me by name and set me apart to His glory? Set me apart by His grace? And
listen, not only that, but what does He say? Calls you. Calls you to approach Him. But He said,
to approach unto Thee. That's what God chose us for.
He elected us. Blessed He is who is chosen in
Christ. Chosen in Him before the foundation
of the world. Grace given us in Christ before
the foundation. And then He says He's caused
to approach unto you. How in the world's a man caused
to approach unto God? to approach unto a holy God,
who, it says, you know, that ye give prayer, and our iniquities
are against us. But yet you say, Blessed is the
man whom thou choosest and causest to approach unto thee. And out
of the world's he maketh a man cause. How does he cause a man
to approach unto him? Our Lord Jesus says, No man can
come unto me except the Father which sent me drawing. You know
how a man is brought to Christ? The same way a man wounds a woman,
I mean, God goes after him. God goes to get him. God goes
after him in his separation from his mother's womb. And then sometime
in his life, he begins to call him by grace. He calls him by
his grace. He begins to awaken him to his
need. He makes him understand he's in darkness. Begins to make
him understand he's frailty. Begins to make him understand
he's helplessness. Begins to make him understand
he has no strength. That he's a sinner. And beloved,
he starts coming to hear the gospel. And he starts listening
to the word of God. He starts taking an interest
in his soul. He starts taking interest in the Bible. And the
next thing you know, he lifts up his heart and say, Lord! Lord,
have mercy on me. You know why He does that? Because
God caused Him to do it. We call on Him because God first
called on us. We cry out to Him because God
first cried out to us. We come to Him because God first
came to us. Ain't that right? And, oh, beloved,
then not only that, I mean, He gives in a sexual call. I say
when God calls a man, He's coming. Thank God we're not on a fool's
errand. We're not on a fool's errand
here. You know, that's why we don't have to have altars, that's
why we don't have to twist arms, that's why we don't have to beg,
that's why we don't have to plead, that's why we don't have to get
to music in a certain way, we don't have to sing a half a dozen
verses to call and beg and plead. God's going, he said, blessed
is the man who, he exercised his free will and decided to
come to Jesus. He gave me some stuff today,
and one of them says this. Come to my house and bring your
kids. Love God. Another says, wrap
yourself up and give it to God. Blessed is the man who says,
I raise my hand and let Jesus into my heart. No, no. Blessed
is he whom thou choosest. And then, Causes. Causes. Reaches out and gets you. Reaches
out to where you are. You don't know where you are
until God comes and gets you and starts bringing you. And
then you start realizing and looking where you've been and
where God's got to bring you from. You know how far God's
got to bring a man from to bring him to himself? He's got to bring
him from darkness into light. He's got to bring him from very
death to life. He's got to bring him from flesh
to spirit. Oh, and he's got, you know, listen. How many years does a man go,
and God never enters his mind? Until one day, oh, then what's
what he says here? Not only that he approaches,
that he may dwell. dwell in thy courts." When he
gets there, he won't stay. He said, I'll just stay here. I love this place so much that
I'm going to stay. I'm going to dwell right here.
I'm going to make this my dwelling place. This is the place I'm
going to live. This is the place I'm going to stay, right here
in God's presence. I'm going to stay here. God brought
me here. God brought me here. He chose
me. He loved me. And now I'm going to stay in
His presence. I'm going to live in God. I'm
going to live to God. I'm going to live for God. I'm
going to live unto God. I'm going to stay in His presence.
I'm going to dwell in His courts. I ain't leaving. I'm going to
stay right here. Look what else he says here.
And then we shall be satisfied with our goodness. with the goodness
of thy house, even of thy holy temple." Oh, we'll be satisfied
with what? With His goodness. With the goodness
of your house. You know what house that we're
satisfied with? Let me show you in Hebrews chapter
3. He says, we're satisfied with the goodness of thy house. Let
me show you what his house he's talking about. Hebrews chapter
3. Satisfied with His goodness,
satisfied with His house, Satisfied with his temple, satisfied with
his election, satisfied with his effectual calling, we're
satisfied with God. And look what he said here in
Hebrews 3, talking about the house. We're for holy brethren,
partakers of the heavenly calling. That's being brought to Christ.
That's being caused to approach unto him, consider the apostle
and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful
to him that appointed him, as also Moses was also faithful
in all his house, in his whole generation is what he's talking
about. For this man, the Lord Jesus Christ, was counted worthy
of more glory than Moses, And as much as he who hath built
the house hath more honor than the house. The man who builds
the house hath more honor than the person who's in the house.
Moses was in the house. He was a servant in the house.
And watch what it says there. For every house is built by some
man, but listen to it, but he that built all things is God.
And Moses was really truly faithful in all his house as a servant
in the house. He didn't build the house. He
is a servant in the house for a testimony of those things which
were to be spoken after. Now listen to it. But Christ
as a Son over His own house, whose house are we? That's the house. That's the
house that we're standing by. The church. God's blessed people. God's blessed people. So, blessed
is the man. Now, let's look back over at
Psalm 32. Let's look at another one. Blessed is the man. Blessed
is the man whom Thou choosest and causes to approach unto."
Well, we rejoice in the goodness of His house. That house is Christ,
and He's the son over this house. We're His house. Psalm 32, "'Blessed
is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whom spirit there is no
God." My, my, that's one of the most astounding things in all
the scriptures. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity. There's a people in this world
that God does not charge sin to them or iniquity to them,
and when he looks at them, he don't see any sin, he don't see
any iniquity. Now that's, blessed is the man
unto whom the Lord imputes not iniquity. Blessed is the man
whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. And beloved,
the Lord will not impute iniquity. You know, it says, I think it's
in Matthew 5, where it says, you know, Run into your adversary
in the way. Agree with him quickly. Your
adversary, you owe him something. You owe a debt. You can't pay
it. And when your adversary meets you, you agree with him quickly
while you're in the way with him. Unless he takes you and
hails you to the judge, the judge hails you to the prison, and
he puts you in there, and you can't get out until the other
most farthing is paid. Well, beloved, that's never going
to happen to us. Because the Lord says, well,
I've agreed with my adversary. I had a debt I could not pay.
God said, I'm not going to impute it to you. How come I'm not going
to impute it to you? The Lord Jesus Christ Himself,
having forgiven you all trespasses, redemption through His blood,
even the forgiveness of sins. Our Lord Jesus Himself bore our
sin in His own body on the tree. And beloved, the only way in
the world that God could not impute iniquity on us is for
somebody else to have them imputed to them and charged to their
account. And I'll tell you, you know, it's like that woman that
came in and sat at the Lord's feet when she was, he was in
Simon the Pharisee's house eating supper one evening. And this
woman came in, they didn't sit in chairs like we did, they sat
on the floor. They sat on the floor. They sat and the food
around there, they'd reach in and get it. And they still do
that over there in a lot of places. And they were eating. And this
woman came in, the Lord Jesus' feet out there, and she got down
at His feet and she just began to weep profusely. And her tears
just covered His feet. And Simon said, oh, if this man
knew what manner of woman this is, he would have let her do
this. She's a sinner. And then she
took her hair, and she let it down, and she took out his foot
one at a time, and his feet one at a time, and began to dry them
off. And he said, Simon, I've got
something to ask you. What is it, Master? He says, when I come into this
house, you didn't anoint my oil, you didn't wash my head, and
you didn't wash my feet. But this woman, from the time
she came in, she's not ceased to wash my feet with her tears
and wipe them with her hair. He said, suppose somebody owed
500 pence and some owed 50. Which do you think will forgive
them the most? If they frankly knew the one
of them had ought to pay, and frankly knew the one of them
had ought to pay, and he forgave all their debts. He said, I suppose
the one who owed 500 pence. He said, that's this woman right
here. That's this woman. And he said this, he said, her
sins, her sins, which are many, every one of them is going to
be forgiven. Every single one of them. The only thing that
can destroy and damn a man is sin. And here it says that his
sin will not be imputed to him. Why? Because they've been covered
by the blood. because they've been fulfilled
by the law, justice has been satisfied, and grace has been
given. It's like Hebrew song tonight,
that thief on the cross. He says, Lord, remember me when
you come into your kingdom. And how could a man who lived
his whole life in sin, he admitted on that cross, I am here and
be justly. Justly, I'm here. That other
fellow was cussing Christ and saying, if you're the Savior,
save yourself and us too. And he says, don't you know what
you said? We're here indeed justly. Don't
you fear God? This man's done nothing amiss.
This man's here not for anything he himself done, but because
of what somebody else did. And he said, Lord, remember me
when you come into your kingdom. And our Lord Jesus says, today
you'll be with me. And how can that happen? Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord imputes not iniquity. And Oliver arrived
to see his man in jail. Same day, he heard these people walking
down the hallway on that old stone walkways. Heard them fellows
marching down through there, keys jangling on their belts
and in their hands. He said, well, they're coming
to get me. It's my time. They walk over there. He's cowered
over in a corner. They're going to have to drag
him out of there. This fella's not going to go to the cross
willingly. And, oh, he's setting us at awe and dreading them to
open that, take that key and put it in that door. Take that
key and swing that door open. And them big Roman soldiers come
in there and lay hands on him and drag him out of there and
take him out to kill him. And they heard him coming down
through there. Whoa. Heard every step. His breath, no doubt, was
catching in his throat, and his heart was beating a hundred miles
an hour, and they stuck that key in that door and unlocked
it, and opened it up, and said, Come on out, Barabbas! Oh, I don't want to. Oh, Barabbas,
come on. You're free today. Today, they
said, no doubt said, today's your lucky day. He said, what do you mean? He
said, the Jews took a man, Jesus of Nazareth, and put him in your
place. And he said, you get to go free.
They had to let somebody go. And you get to go free. And he's
crucified. How could that be? How could
that be? Oh, my. And let me show you,
let me keep this, look over with me in Romans real quick, Romans
chapter 4. I'm taking way too long, I know,
but I'll tell you, this is one of the most astounding, that
there's a people in this world, you can go to bed tonight, you
can go to bed tonight, and you can say before God himself, that
God does not impute iniquity to me. God does not charge sin
to me. If I leave this world in my sleep,
I'll wake up in gloom. I'll wake up in glory." Look
what he said here in Romans chapter 4 and verse 20, talking about
Abraham. He staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory
to God, and being fully persuaded that what he had promised he
was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed
to him for righteousness. He believed God. And that word
imputed means to charge to somebody's account. To reckon it to be so. To count it. Here's your account. You got the liabilities over
here and you got assets over here. All we had was liabilities. That's all we had until Christ
bore our sins in his own body on the tree. Well, God took all
of our liabilities. and charged them to Christ. And he took all of Christ's assets
and put them on our account. And that's what he said to Abraham.
Abraham believed God, and God said, I'm going to take all of
my righteousness that's in my Son, and I'm going to put that
on your account, and you're not going to have any more liabilities.
As far as I'm concerned, you're free of sin, and I ain't never
going to charge you with one iniquity from now throughout
eternity." And oh, look what he goes on to say now. In verse
23, Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed
to him, but for us, To whom it shall be imputed if
we believe on him that raised up Jesus from the dead. What's this? Who was delivered.
God delivered him up for our offenses. That's our liabilities,
our sins, our iniquities. And was raised again for our
justification. I will show you one more. Hebrews
10, 17. Oh my, to whom it shall be imputed. Right now. right now in the sight
of God. And I'll tell you something,
there's a people, and this is going to be hard for some of
you to understand, but this is true. This is true. If you're
one for whom Christ died, that was given to the Lord Jesus Christ
in the covenant of grace, God will cross your path And as far
as God's concerned, before the foundation of the world, Christ
stood as a Lamb slain. He never viewed us outside of
Christ. Now, that's a great mystery,
but that's true. And because He never viewed us outside of
Christ, and you know, we've often said, I was not on the brink
of hell. In our experience, we were. But in God's purpose, we
never were. Huh? In our experience, we were
great sinners. But as far as God was concerned,
And she viewed us in Christ. And that's the only reason why
we were brought to Christ, because He protected and preserved us
all the days of our life. But look here in Hebrews 10,
17. This is God speaking now. And
their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Can God forget anything? Yeah. He forgets our sins. Oh, bless
His name. And there's three imputations
in the Scriptures. Three imputations. First of all,
Adam's sin was charged to our account. For if I as one man
sinned into the world, and death passed upon all men, for that
I'll have sinned. Because of our relationship to
Adam, we was born sinners, and Adam's sin was charged to our
account. I wasn't in the garden except I was in Adam. And I wasn't in Christ except
I was put in Christ by the grace of God. But anyway, sin, adult
sin, was charged to my kingdom. Charged to my kingdom. And I
grew up to be a sinner. And then Christ's sin, our sin,
was then charged to the Lord Jesus Christ. Our sin, our damaged
sin, the sin that we committed in Adam, and then all of our
own sins, every single one of them, sins we haven't even committed
yet. You see, when Christ died for our sins, we hadn't even
been born yet, and we hadn't even come forth from Adam yet
in ourselves. And so our sins had never been
committed. And we've got sins we've not
yet committed. But the Scriptures tell us that all our iniquities
was laid on Christ. past, present, and future. And
they were laid on Christ, and Christ bore our sins in His own
body on the tree. And then Christ's righteousness
was charged to our account. We didn't have a righteousness.
We had no right to righteousness. But God took Christ's righteousness
and said, I'm going to give that to you, and record that to be
on your account. And listen, no wonder he said,
blessed is the man. You know who wrote that? A strong
man, David. This is the man who took Sheba
to be his wife. This is the man who had her husband
killed. This is the man who lost his
first child because he was committed some awful sin. This is the man.
He said, he's the one that says, Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputed not a nickname. Now, that's something, ain't
it? That's one of the most astounding verses of scriptures that I've
ever seen. And let me tell you something, talking about imputation,
we didn't become sinners by doing anything, did we? And you ain't going to become
righteous by doing anything, but by believing. You didn't
become a sinner doing anything, and you ain't going to become
righteous by doing anything. You're going to believe. Alright, let's look over here
at Psalm 1 real quick, and I'll hurry up. Psalm 1. I went through this the other
day, so I won't say much about this. Psalm 1. Blessed is the man He said, Walketh not in the counsel
of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth
in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law
of the Lord, and in his law doeth he meditate. Day and night he
shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, and shall
bring forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not
wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Oh, blessed is
the man! And look what he says there in
verse two. But his delight in And that word
delight means great pleasure. He has great pleasure. He delights
in it. He enjoys it very much. But what
is it that he delights in? It says he delights in the law
of the Lord. His delights in God's Word. Now,
when you talk, it says he delights in the law of the Lord. Now,
law has three different meanings in the scriptures. First, there's
the law of Moses. That was the civil and the ceremonial
law that they had. The law of Moses, civil. God
gave civil law and ceremonial law for Israel. Then that's the
civil law, you know, that told them how to treat one another
and have judges for them. And then the ceremonial laws
that they had all the feasts. And they had that. And then the
second meaning of the law is the Ten Commandments. The Ten
Commandments. And the third meaning of the
law is all of Scripture. All of Scripture. If they speak
not according to the law and the testimony, it's because there's
no light in them. All of the scriptures is called
the law of God. It's our law. And, beloved, and
so we said here, He delights in this law. He has finds great
pleasure in this law. And He delights in it. Then look
what else it says He'll do. It said, He will not walk in
the counsel of the ungodly. He will not, I don't care if
they're ungodly, if a fellow tries to tell him what he needs
to do and how he needs to do it, he won't ask at it, he won't
do it, no matter who they are. He won't stand in the way of
sinners. He will not stand in the way of sinners. He won't
walk with sinners. He won't act like sinners. He will not stand
in the way of sinners. And also it means this, by the
grace of God, he won't stand in the door and keep those from
going in and won't go in himself. And then look what he also said.
He won't sit in the seat of the scornful. He won't sit up there
and find fault with everybody and everything. And then his
delights in God's Word, God's blessed love. Job said it like
this. He says, Thy law, thy law, and
I steam it more than my necessary food. I tell you, I can get by
without eating a meal, but I can't get by without God's Word. I
can get by with a lot of things in this world, but I can't get
by without God's Word. Jeremiah said it like this, he
says, you know, I did eat thy word, and it was sweeter than
honeycombs. Delighted in it. Delighted in
it. And I'll tell you why we're delighted
in it, because it has divine authority on us. I mean, this
is God speaking. And, O beloved, it's forever
settled in heaven. I mean, it ain't never going
to change. And I'll tell you, we love it because of the justice
of it. I mean, whenever you look into the Scriptures, it deals
with everybody exactly the same. It tells the truth on everybody. It does not make one person be
above another. It don't make even God's people,
it don't even dress them up. It exposes them for what they
really are. It shows that they need grace
like everybody else needs grace. And all because of this divine,
supernatural wisdom. This blessed book, beloved, is
the science of God. And look what we've learned from
it. We learned things from this book that you can't learn from
no place else. I love Pilgrim's Progress. I'm just delighted,
and I enjoy it. I love reading after certain
men that I really, really enjoy reading after. And they have
a great spiritual sense. And there's preachers that I
love to eat, but there's nothing that nobody that can speak like
this blessed book speaks. I mean, it's got supernatural
wisdom. It is supernatural power. And
this is the thing that you come and you'll want a question answered
about the Scriptures or something you want to do, something you
plan on doing. And God will answer your question in that very service. And you didn't even tell anybody
what you wanted to know. And oh, beloved, we love it because
we delight in it and have great pleasure in it because it's true!
It's true! And it ain't never gonna change.
Pick it up tomorrow and it'll read just what it said today.
And I tell you, we love it because it's pleasant. Oh, it's pleasant. Look with Psalm 19 just a moment.
Psalm 19. Because it's pleasant. This blessed
Word is pleasant. Psalm 19. And verse 7 says this. This shows you that the law is
the whole word here. The law of the Lord is perfect.
That couldn't possibly be the Ten Commandments. Because it
doesn't convert the soul. It just makes us know our sin.
Psalm 19 and 7. The law of the Lord is perfect.
That means it got no flaws in it. It converts the soul. The
testimony of the Lord is sure. It takes simpletons like us and
makes us wise. Where is the beginning of wisdom
and fear of God? The statutes of the Lord are
right. We look at the Bible and we say, oh, this is right. This
is true. Oh, and we rejoice in our hearts.
The commandments of the Lord are pure. What do they do? They
give light to our eyes. Give light to them. We get to
see things. And we say, oh, I never saw that before. I didn't understand
what that meant before. I really appreciate it. I understand
that now. I see that now. And the fear of the Lord is clean.
It endures forever. The judgments of the Lord are
true and righteous every time. And listen to it, more to be
desired are they than gold. Would you rather have a Bible
or a pocket full of gold? And gold is really high now. I mean, boy, I tell you what,
in fact, I saw you here on commercials now, buy gold, buy gold, buy
gold, buy gold, buy some more gold. Get gold here, get gold
there, buy gold here, buy gold there, buy this and buy gold.
You know what it says here? It's better to have this blessed
book and desire it than to have all in gold. Huh? And listen
to it. And then much fine gold. I mean,
you know, that's the 24 karat stuff. Sweeter also than honey
and the honeycomb. And this is what I love right
here. Moreover, by them is thy servant warned. Yeah, God warned us. And in keeping
with them, there's great reward. And also, you see, that's what
we're talking about. Now, look back again here at
Psalm 1. Let me show you this quickly, and I'll move on to
my next one. And then look what it says in verse 3. He delights
in the law of the Lord. And he shall be like a tree planted
by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit. That's what
he's going to be. And let me tell you something
about a tree. It doesn't plant itself. Somebody
else got to plant it. You know, only God is the one
that plants his tree. He plants it by the rivers of
water. A tree doesn't plant itself. All right, let me give you two
more real quick. James chapter 1. Blessed is the
man whom Thou choosest and causes to approach unto Thee. Blessed is he who delights in
the word of God." James is right after the book of Hebrews, James
chapter one. That little five chapters right
after the book of Hebrews, James chapter one. And look what it
says. 12. James chapter 1 and verse 12.
Blessed is the man that endeareth temptation, for when he is tried
he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised
to them that loves him. Blessed is the man that endeareth
temptation. And I tell you something, beloved,
we're going to be tried Abraham was tempted of the Lord. Abraham
was tried of the Lord. A man will be tried. A man will
be tempted. And the Scriptures tells us,
beloved, that's why He said, Our Father, which art in heaven,
deliver us from temptation. Deliver us from evil. Keep us
from evil. Deliver us from temptation. When
temptation comes, save it from us. Because it's coming. Temptation
is going to come. Trials are going to come. But
let me tell you something. And this is what most folks,
I'm not talking about, you know, preachers talking about we need
to live a victorious life. I'm going to tell you something.
We already got the victorious life, and we didn't win it. We've
already won the victory over every temptation, over every
trial, and though they're coming. And I'll tell you why. Because
we had victory in our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 2.16 says
this, that Christ always, always, causes us to triumph. Huh? And here in Hebrews 12.2, look
what it says, 12.1 and 2. That's why it says we're persuaded. We're persuaded. He says this
is what we do. We have, we've been, a man will
be tried and tempted. But we're going to be overcomers.
We already have overcome in our Lord Jesus Christ. He said, wherefore
seeing we also are compassed with so great a cloud of witnesses,
all these people in Hebrews 11. Let us lay aside every weight,
and the sin which do so easily beset us, that unbelief that
so easily besets us, that makes us murmur, makes us complain,
makes us fearful, makes us doubtful. And let us run with patience
to the race that's set before us. And here's what you do. Looking,
looking, looking, constantly, continually looking unto Jesus. He's the author of our faith.
He began our faith. And He's the finisher of our
faith. He started it, and He'll bring it to its fruition. Who,
for the joy that was said before Him, endured the cross, despising
the shame, and is set out at the right hand of God. I mean,
beloved, He's done done it, and we did it in Him. That's why
Paul says, I am persuaded. Persuaded that nothing shall
separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.
Tribulation? Oh, that'll separate us. No.
Tribulation won't do it. Life, death, angels, propensities,
powers, things present, things to come, any other creature shall
never be able to separate us from the love of God which is
in Christ Jesus. Now, I tell you, beloved, in
myself, I'll fall and I'll fail. But I can't fall and I can't
fail in Him. You know why? Because I see my
need of Him and I'm in Him. I'm in Him. And He'd have to
let me go. He'd have to let me go for me
to fall away, for temptation to destroy me. He'd have to do
it. He'd have to let me go. And that's
why Paul said, let us come boldly under the throne of grace to
obtain mercy and find help in our time of need. When we're
in trouble, when we're in temptation, when we're being tried, it is
natural for us to come to Christ and look to Him and call on Him
and see our need of Him and trust Him as it is for a baby to cry
out for its mother. A baby cries out for its mother
and reaches for it, that's the same way we do. You get hungry,
you go to Christ. You get dirty, you go to Christ.
You make a mess out of everything, you go to Christ. You can't help
but do it. You say, well, I said something,
you go to Christ. And I'll tell you, that's one
of those things that accompany salvation. A man, always, what
happens, he goes to Christ and reaches out his hands. It's like little Ronnie, she'll
lift up her hands, she'll say, Papi, hold me, hold me, Papi,
hold me. And that's what we say, Christ,
hold me, hold me, hold me, for I'm a donor. Ain't that right? Well, oh, taste to see that the
Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusts
in Him. I'm going to show you one more
in Hebrews 12. We're right there, ain't we?
Hebrews 12, verse 5. And this will be my last one.
Take me but a minute on this. He said here in verse 5, And ye have forgotten the exhortation
which speaketh unto children, My son, despise not thou the
chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou are rebuked of him.
For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth
every son to whom he receiveth. Now, the verse of Scripture is,
Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, over in Psalm 94.12.
If you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the father
chasteneth not?" Now, this word, chasten, has not just the idea
of somebody being whipped, somebody being punished. Chasten means
to teach and discipline with the purpose of instructing somebody,
to teach them something, to chasten them, to put them in a bad way
so that they will learn a lesson, learn a lesson, and learn what
you need to learn. But look what he says in verse
8, But if you be without chastisement, who are of all our partakers,
then are you bastards and not sons. You go, you're not a blood
son, you're not a son. And he uses this as an illustration. We have fathers of our flesh
which corrected us. Did anybody here have a father
who didn't correct them? And we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in
subjection unto the Father of spirits and live? For they really,
truly, for a few days, chastened us after their own pleasure,
or as it seemed good in their sight. That's what our fathers
done to us. They chastened us after their pleasure, whatever
their rules were, whatever their standards was, that's what they
done. But our Lord Jesus Christ and God does it for our profit
that we might be partakers of His holiness. Now, no chastening
for the present seems to be joyous but grievous. Oh, when God's
chasing you, teaching you, showing you, got you hemmed up where
you ain't got nowhere to go. He's got the heavens brass and
the earth as hard as an iron. You can't pray, you can't read,
you can't sleep. Good nights come and you dread
the nights and then you dread the mornings to come then. He
says, nevertheless, afterwards, It yieldeth a peaceable fruit
of righteousness by them which exercise thereby." So what are
you going to do about it? Lift up the hands which hang
down in the feeble knees. Oh, God only chases whom He chooses
and whom He loves. And if He ever gets chastened
to the Lord, you ought to give thanks for it, because He don't
do that to everybody. He don't do that to everybody.
And how in the world he has a way of dealing with everybody different?
For my personal ways, the best way he deals with me...