If you wish to follow along,
turn to Lamentations. We'll take just this week at
least. Take a little break from Romans
for at least this Sunday. Lamentations chapter three. It's right after Jeremiah. And
I say that as I told the people at Willersburg not to be condescending.
Because I remember one Sunday, I don't know if it was Paul or
Joe preaching, and I think it was Ruth. And they said, turn
to Ruth. And they had done finished reading the text and began to
preach, and I still hadn't found Ruth. And I know where Ruth's
at. I finally just had to lay my
Bible down and act like I'd found it. Just listen. Lamentations chapter three. Did
I say that? I said lamentation. Lamentations
chapter three. I want to read just Three verses. Lamentations three, verse 21. This I recall to my
mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning, Great
is thy faithfulness. My title is derived directly
from the text, of course, as many of you probably would already
understand that. My title is this. It is of the
Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. The fact that the book would
speak of anyone, that God's holy book would speak of anyone, whether
it's one person or a billion persons. Doesn't matter how many. I know this world of religion
is called up with numbers. And I understand that. Believe
you me, I understand that. Because in our human mind, in
our flesh, we associate quantity with God rather than quality
with God. And we all have to battle this.
Probably about every day of our life. But it is just that the
fact that anyone is not consumed is astounding. It's astounding. Now I understand it is probably
not astounding to most. because most people think that
there is, the old cliche, there is a spark of goodness in every
man. But I'm here to say that that
is not so. So again, the fact that anyone
is not consumed is astounding because we deserve to be consumed. It's not just an unfortunate
consequence of who we are and what we do, but it is God revealing
his wrath from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men. Remember, I know you remember
this, and you don't have to turn to this one. I'll have you turn,
Lord willing, here in just a moment. You remember what Paul wrote
to Titus? Titus 3 verse 3, for we ourselves, and he's talking
to believers. For we ourselves also were sometimes
foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers or various, various
lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and
hating one another. And anyone with any common sense,
even common sense, you don't have to have even specifically
spiritual sense, but common sense, who would watch the news today
on TV that doesn't realize that what Paul wrote some odd 2,000
years ago is still true of us today. Men and women will kill
one another over nothing. Over getting cut off in traffic.
And we've all, if we've driven for any time at all, have made
mistakes in traffic. People kill one another over
such things. It's astounding. Here's another
one, you know this one. And you don't have to turn to
it, because I'll give you a passage here in a moment. Romans chapter
three, and Paul lays out, or I should say, more importantly,
he quotes from the Old Testament scripture. But before he does
this diatribe against us as humanity, there's none good, there's none
righteous. You all remember Romans three, but here's what I want
us to hear. What then? Are we, that is Jews, that's
what he's talking about in this context, those who are of Jewish
descent, are we better than they? Who's the they? Gentiles, those
who are of Gentile descent. What then? Are we better than
they? No, in no wise. In no wise. The Jews had advantage,
but they squandered that advantage. What then, are we better than
they? No, in no wise, for we have before proved, before he
even starts to quote the Old Testament, but we have before
proved both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin. Now turn to Isaiah chapter one.
Now I know you thought I was gonna probably read some more
of those verses there, but here's what I want to read. Isaiah chapter
one. Let me just begin with verse
two. Hear, O heavens, and give ear,
O earth. So this is for all. All. Whether they're things up
above or things beneath. Hear, O heavens, and give ear,
O earth. For the Lord has spoken. I have
nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against
me. Now I can hear it now, the dispensationalist
saying, but this is written to Jews. Yes, it is. It was definitely
written to those who are of Jewish descent, but Paul said, I've
already proved, hundreds of years after this, that both Jews and
Gentiles, that they are all under sin. We're all alike by nature. The ox knoweth his own, wait
a minute, wait a minute. Here, O heavens, and here, O
earth, for the Lord has spoken. I have nourished and brought
up children, and they have rebelled against me. And in this sense,
God being the creator of all heaven and earth, we are all
his children in that sense. He is our creator, we are his
creation. We owe him worship and honor
and love and devotion as his creatures. Jew or Gentile, does
not matter. The ox knoweth his owner, and
the ass his master's crib. But Israel doth not know, my
people doth not consider. Is God saying that mankind is
dumber than an ass? Yes, you're not even a dumb ass. The dumb ass, that's what this
is, now don't you, I know you're sitting there, I'm not trying
to cuss here, I'm talking about what this is. We are worse than
a dumb ass. The ox knoweth his owner, and
the ass his master's crib. But Israel doth not know, my
people hath not considered. Ah, sinful nation. And this is true. Though this
was spoken just to Jews, this is true of all humanity. Ah,
sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers,
children that are corruptors. They have forsaken the Lord.
They have provoked the Holy One. And before there ever was an
Israelite on the face of the earth, God Almighty had revealed
Himself in the earliest days of human history as to who He
was. And Romans 1, Paul tells us,
when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God. And they turned
the truth of God into a lie. There wasn't nobody but Gentiles
then. So we Gentiles started this mess. We were in this mess to start
with, were we not, before any actual Israelite ever came along. And have provoked the Holy One
of Israel under anger. They are gone away backward. Why should you be stricken anymore?
Now listen, I know we often comfort ourselves in the fact that sometimes
some folks go through trouble and we hope, we pray, we may
even pray, oh God caused this to bring them around. But that
is not so. We pray, we ask amiss that we
may consume it of our own lust. Because God doesn't save people
by trouble, he saves people by Jesus Christ. We don't know how to pray as
well. And I don't wanna get off right
here. Why should ye be stricken any more? Ye will revolt more
and more. You see it? The whole head is
sick and the whole heart faint. Yes, this is true of those Israelites
in Isaiah's day, but it's true of you and I, of us all today. From the sole of the foot, Even
unto the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores. That is not a pleasant picture,
but he's not talking about some kind of accident that we've had. He's talking about what we are
and do by nature. He's using metaphors to describe
how disgusting we are within ourselves. wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores. They have not been closed, neither
bound up, neither mollified with ointment. And I will say this. Not all of humanity is in the
dregs of immorality. Not all of humanity is in the
dregs of immorality. but all of humanity is either
in the dregs of immorality, or they are in the dregs of false
religion, whatever that false religion might be, or they are
in the midst of, even brought up in, trained up as children
in a perverse Christianity. where a perverted gospel is preached. Men will take, even in their
morality, in their morality, they despise all of these immoral
things, and they avoid all these immoral things, but they will
take the truth of God and twist it into a lie. We deserve to
be consumed. But we still here. This I recall
to mind, to my, I'm sorry, my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning, not
because they become exhausted, but because we need them every
morning. If I get ready to pillow my head
at night, and I begin to confess my sins before God, before I
pillow my head. That's okay, there's nothing
wrong with that. I'm not degrading that in any
way. But when I pillow my head and
I go off into that state called sleep, even in my sleep, I rebel
against God. My mind begins to show what's
really down in here. Thy, they are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. That gives me hope. That's given
me hope. Now let's note this morning,
I will try to be brief, but there's some of these things I don't
want to rush over. Let's try to note as I, these are the same
five things I gave to the folks at Grace Fellowship Church in
Williarsburg, Ohio, but let's try to note at least five choice
gospel morsels. Now you notice I didn't make
it six and use the first one as a choice gospel morsel, because
our state in Adam ain't a choice gospel morsel. It's wounds and
bruises and putrefied stores. We steak in the sight of a holy
God. We are rotten flesh in the sight of a holy God. And yet,
some of humanity is not consumed. As a matter of fact, all of humanity
is not immediately consumed, which is an amazing thing in
and of itself. An amazing thing in and of itself.
But I'm not gonna deal with that. Let's try to note at least five
choice gospel morsels. The first morsel, the Lord's
mercies are key. You hear what I said? Now you
can turn back to Titus, if you will. Titus chapter three, where we
read, I've already read these words, verse three. For we ourselves
were also sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving
different, all kinds of various lusts and pleasures, living in
malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But after
that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, because even
at our best state we're altogether vanity. There's not a just man
upon the face of the earth that doeth good. That's not saying
a just man don't do good. Don't stop the quote. There's
not a just man upon the face of the earth that doeth good
and sinneth not. Even when just men and women,
justified by God, justified in Christ, even when we do good,
sin is still present in everything we do. It's still present. That's what the prophet was saying
there. Look, but after that the kindness and love of God our
Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which
we have done, but according to his will. Mercy, you see that? Mercy. Everybody's talking about
saved today, but I don't hear too many people talking about
being in absolute need of God's mercy. Begging God for mercy,
crying out to God for mercy. Why? Because they actually think
they deserve God's mercy. They actually think there's at
least enough good in me, God ought to spare me. But we are
told from the soles of our feet to our head, We're nothing but
utter corruption. We'll even take the truth. The
Israelites would take the offerings that God said, offer a lamb,
and they'd bring one with a broke leg. And one prophet said, offer
that to your governor and see if he'll accept that. And yet
men and women do this throughout the world and have done it for
ages. They offer to God at best the
leftovers. Whether it's leftovers of the
money, leftovers of the time, leftovers of their devotion,
whatever it is, it's always, at best, the leftovers. God said,
I'll have the firstfruits. Remember, there were offerings
of the what? The firstfruits. That means God gets the first
and the best. the first and the best. Look,
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 which he shed on us abundantly. I often forget that. And the sad part is I forget
that when I fail God and that's what I really need to know is
abundant mercy. Ain't it? When I really fails,
when I really ought to understand it. Right? Which he shed on us
abundantly. Remember, look at what we were
and yet look at what God did for us. You see that? Now you
said, why would any of us think that after he's done this gracious
and merciful act toward us, first in Christ and his person, second
in washing, the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost,
you think that God now loves you less than he ever did when
he was like you were to start with? And yet because we're so
caught up with ourselves and our works, we think those thoughts,
don't we? So again, the first morsel, it
is of the Lord's mercies. That's the key. And as Tim James
once said, if you think God owes you mercy, you have no idea what
God's mercy is. If I offend you, and I know this
is a simple illustration, but it is profound. If I offend you,
it would be even a further offense to you if I come to you and said,
I'm gonna let you show me mercy. Now would it not? Mercy is to
be, that's begged for. Cried out for. Believe God for
it. And yet we're in this age, and
I suppose we've always been in this age, but with all the electronics
and universal sharing of knowledge, and the Bible talks about that
as well, you can't get away from all this self-righteousness.
Can't get away from it. But which is shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by his grace. Grace, that was before we even
had faith, because that we should be made heirs. This is. This grace, he's talking about
here, and I'm not talking about different kinds of grace, but
different facets of the one grace of God, because he's the God
of all grace, this grace must precede even our believing. That
being justified by his grace, how is that done? Through the
person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We should be made heirs,
and men, that, That poor, poor preacher, he'd gone on now, that
preached my granny's funeral, said God's a gentleman, he don't
make anybody do anything or be anything. I thank God he does. Because he made me an heir. Because
had he not made me an heir, I'm worse than an ox or an ass. I am an unclean ass, according
to God's holy law. And as Scott Richardson said,
you can take that any way you want. And you know what you did
to an unclean ass if you didn't redeem it by a lamb? You broke
its neck. And we deserve to have our necks
broke. But bless God, he offered up,
the father offered up his son, the lamb, for some unclean asses. I don't mind. Not too many people understand,
I don't mind being an unclean ass. Because that means I could
be redeemed by a lamb. And not have my neck broke. Now if you just think you're
an ass, you probably are. You will perish. Because it's
only unclean asses that could be redeemed by a lamb. Now, go
and figure out what that means. Second morsel, mercy is accompanied
by abundant, unfailing compassions and great faithfulness. And these are all qualities in
God, not me. It's not our compassion, though
we as God's people have compassion. He gives it to us. though we
have faithfulness, because He gives it to us. He works it in
us, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. But we're
not talking about our compassions, our mercies, our faithfulness,
we're talking about His. Now listen to what the prophet
Isaiah said. Isaiah chapter 55, this is marvelous. Turn, if you
wish, Isaiah 55. Ho everyone that thirsteth, here's
the question, do you thirst? Do you thirst? Ho everyone that
thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, are
you flat broke? These are metaphors for spiritual
realities. Not talking about physical thirst
or physically not having any money in your pocket. Oh everyone
that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money,
come ye by. Sounds like a contradiction.
It is to the flesh. But it's not to the man or the
woman that's been made thirsty and God Almighty's broke them
down into pure poverty. Oh everyone that thirsteth, come
ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, come
ye by and eat. Yea, come by wine and milk without
money, without price. Now I, I can receive a deal like
that. Ain't you? But you know, not
everybody can. And not everybody will. Some
because they say, well, who are you to tell me I'm so thirsty
and I'm so broke? I can find a way to gain these
things myself. Not these things. Look, wherefore
do ye spend money for that which is not bread? Even if you got
some money, you're in trouble. spiritual money, we might say. Wherefore do you spend money
for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which
satisfyeth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and
eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. My brothers and sisters, it's
okay to rejoice in the person of work of Jesus Christ. It's
okay to find happiness in him. Incline your ear. Isn't that
one of the first things? Let every man be slow to speak,
swift to do what? Hear. Hear. And the seeing eye
and the hearing ear, where they come from? They come from the
Lord. Incline your ear and come unto
me. Hear and your soul shall live. Are you really listening?
That's the thing. Are you really listening? And
I will make an everlasting covenant with you even the sure mercies
of David. And this is a play with words. God showed King David sure mercies. He needed God's mercy. Even throughout
his believing life, he still needed God's mercies, did he
not? But this is talking more abundantly
about David's son, the greater David, Jesus Christ. Behold,
I have given him for a witness to the people and a leader and
a commander to the people. Behold, thou shalt call a nation
that thou knowest not. and nations that knew thee not
shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God and for the
Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified thee. There's a promise
from God Almighty that through the person of Jesus Christ, even
a bunch of Gentiles like us would run to Jesus Christ. You're not
here by accident. You ain't here by luck. You ain't
here by your choice because God purposed this long before we
were ever born. That's the second morsel. Here's
the third morsel. Mercy salt is a God-wrought,
God-guaranteed commodity. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 31. I said this is the third morsel.
Mercy salt and mercy must be sought after. Come to the fountain. You stay away from the fountain,
you'll perish. I don't care who you are. Stay away, you'll perish. But this is what it says. Jeremiah
31, verse 18. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning
himself thus. Thou hast chastised me. And I
was chastised. God don't ask us if we'll let
him chastise us. Okay God, go ahead and chastise
me. It don't work that way, does
it? He chastised us because we're kicking against, against. That's why we gotta be chastised.
Look at it. Thou hast chastised me and I
was chastised as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. I can relate to
that. It don't make me happy, but I can relate to that. But
there's a, we'll look at this, God willing we'll get to Romans
chapter five and I think it's verse 16. But God bethink that
you were the servants of sin. but ye have obeyed from the heart.
That form of doctrine which was delivered to you. So I did get
to Romans chapter five or six or whatever it is. Look at it.
Unaccustomed to the yoke, turn thou me, and I shall be turned. For thou art the Lord my God. Surely after that I was turned,
I repented. And that's not just an initial
first repentance. Though there is an initial first
repentance. It's a constant. The reason God
chastises men and women is because He loves them. Those He don't
chastise is because He don't love them. He's just letting
them go. Now, if you're in a crowd of people, and there's a bunch
of kids there, and you see three or four kids begin to head toward
the street, and one of those kids is yours, which one are
you going to try to get a hold of and straighten out and keep
from going into the road first? Look, surely after that I was
turned, I repented, and after that I was instructed, I smote
upon my thigh. I was ashamed, yea, even confounded,
because I did bear the reproach of my youth. Is Ephraim, my dear
son, rhetorical? Yes. Yes. Even an Ephraim, you see that?
I want to be an Ephraim. I don't want to live like an
Ephraim, but I want to be an Ephraim. You understand what
I'm getting at now? Is Ephraim my dear son? Yes.
Is he a pleasant child? Rhetorical, no. No, he's not
a pleasant child. For since I spake, look, for
since I spake against him, and God reveals even the corruption
of his own people, even after they're converted by the gospel.
You see that? Look at it. Is he from my dear
son? Yes. Is he a pleasant child?
No. For since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember
him still. Therefore, my bowels are troubled
for him. This is God speaking. I will surely have mercy upon
him, saith the Lord. Thank God. Here's the fourth
morsel. Mercy is always, you hear what
I said. Mercy is always, now I got to
move along here. Mercy is always personal. This I recall to my mind, therefore
have I hope. Did you see that phrase? Mercy
is always personal. Two quick thoughts here. The
Lord's gate is straight. and his way narrow. Did he not,
our Lord himself even preach that? And we can see it, read
it, recorded by Matthew in Matthew 7 verses 13 through 14. Now you
know what most religious people think of when they think of the
straight gate and the narrow way? Start living moral, quit
living immoral, and start believing in Jesus. It's far more profound
than that, folks. Stenos gate, that's the Greek
word, and that in itself doesn't matter. Stenos gate and a flebo
way. In other words, it is constricted
and difficult. That's the two words that he
used. If we translated them directly from the Greek into the English,
these would be two fine words to define it. Constricted and
difficult, straight, it's constricted because Christ alone is the gate. That's your straight gate. Not
walk the straight and narrow way, which means don't sin, don't
mess up. If you do, you confess your sin.
Now all of those things are great in and of themselves, but you
could do that still, Paris, because you got to enter in by the straight
gate. You enter in by the straight
gate, and then you start walking according to the narrow way.
So you gotta enter into the constricted gate before you can ever start
to walk the difficult way. Does that now make sense to you?
If God saves you, it does. Think about it. Christ said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father, but, he didn't say I'm the best way, but by me. He is, folks, the straight gate. But as he also said, it's a narrow
way, it's a difficult way. Because think about it, everything
and everyone, even self, must be left behind. Turn to Matthew
10. Listen to what our Lord said
about these things. Matthew 10. In other words, let me just preface
this reading of what our Lord said with this. You can't take
mommy and daddy with you. If mommy and daddy refuses to
go, you better go in nonetheless. You can't take your husband or
your wife with you and you can't take your children with you.
It's a straight gay, it's constricted. You bow to Jesus Christ whether
nobody else does or not. You seek him and him alone if
everybody else perishes. You see what I'm saying? Now,
preacher, how could you say that? Look what he says. What he said,
Matthew 10. Verse 32, whosoever therefore
shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before
my Father which is in heaven. Does this mean we have to make
great public confessions? No, but we will make public confession.
It'll be before men. And he's promised to confess
us before his Father. But whosoever shall deny, what? Not limited atonement, not perseverance
of the saints, Not in total depravity. Now God's people will be taught
these things. But it ain't about believing in those things. It's
about what? Denying me, he said. You gotta
believe the person because he's the gate. And it's a straight
gate. Now if you enter in by the straight
gate, the difficult way will be to learn you're nothing and
Christ is everything. Good luck. Think not that I am
come to send peace on earth. I come not to send peace but
a sword. For I am come to set a man at
variance against his father and daughter, and the daughter against
her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And
a man's foes shall be they of his own household. If you try
to take somebody else with you through the straight gate, you
won't fit. That's right. Because it ain't up to us as
to who goes through the straight gate. It just says, enter ye
in at the straight gate. That is a personal thing. It's always personal. When God
saved 5,000 in one day, he still saved all 5,000 personally. He called each one by name. Look, he that loveth father or
mother more than me is not worthy of me. Well, I wouldn't serve
if God didn't give my son a 50-50 chance. That man will perish.
as long as he holds to that idea. You hear what I'm saying? Look,
it ain't just about everybody else either. Look at it. He that
loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.
He that loveth son or daughter more than me. That's some of
the closest relationships you can get, isn't it? Look, and
he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not
worthy of me. Folks, that's a difficult way.
That's not easy. That's not whistling when I'm
going to glory. That is bowing before God as
supreme, and specifically in the person of his son. Because
you can't have God the Father without his son. Because God
the Son is the most dear thing to God the Father's heart. Look,
he that findeth his life shall lose it. And he that loseth his
life, now here it is, for my sake, not for religion's sake,
not for proper doctrine's sake. People pride themselves, love
to argue doctrine. I like to talk about Christ.
I believe you, I can argue about doctrine. I'm not saying I'm
above that, but I know it's to no avail. You don't argue men
and women into the kingdom of God. Never never done. You don't argue
them. They got to be born into the kingdom of God And that's
an act of God he that loses his life for my sake Shall find it. There's your straight gate in
a narrow way folks You got to leave everything and everybody
even self behind leave now listen I'll make this leave your morality
behind I And when you enter that straight gate and start to walk
on that narrow way, believe that God will give you the sufficient
walk with which to walk in this world by the spirit of God and
by the testimony of his gospel. If the person or work of Christ
doesn't encourage you to serve God, you don't know God. If it
takes laws and commandments and ecclesiastical rules, you are
no better off what you claim to be now than what you were
when you were wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. Second thought here on this fourth
morsel. Mercy and hope are bound up in
Christ. And I will turn to Hebrews 6,
11 through 20. We have fled for refuge to lay
hold of the hope that's set before us. And then we're told who that
hope is. It's a person. You see, if only
I could remember this. It's not how much doctrine I
know, though doctrine is vital. It's important. You know? But if I lay hold of God's Christ,
Matt, I'm okay. I'm okay. When I stumble and
fall flat on my face, if I'm still holding to Christ, I'm
okay. He'll lift me back. He don't
leave you there. If you're left there, if you
fall and you're left there, that's called apostasy. And there's
no God in that. The second thought again is mercy
and hope are bound up in Christ. Fifth, more so. The Lord's mercies
are found in particular truth. Two thoughts here. It is Christ's
messianic might and right. You remember Matthew 15. You
should be close to it if you're still in Matthew 10. Matthew
15, this woman. Verse 21, and behold, verse 22,
and behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coast and
cried unto him. Now this is a Gentile, a Syrophoenician
woman. She was probably not allowed
in the synagogues, but somehow God had taught her, taught this
old Gentile woman his holy word, his promises of the coming of
the Messiah, because she said, have mercy! Do you see it? Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou
Son of David. She was not merely acknowledging
his genealogy, folks. She's recognizing him as the
Messiah who has sovereign right and might. This Gentile woman
who, And after all that transpires, verse 28, then Jesus answered
and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith. How was it manifested? He said,
you're a dog. That's what he said. You're a
Gentile dog. And she said, yes, Lord, that's
the truth, but I'm your dog. Because even the dogs eat the
crumbs that fall from their master's table. She's saying, you're my
master. Now take that for, accept Jesus
as your personal savior. Don't sound like the same thing
to me, does it to you? Walk in the aisle, chewing your
chewing gum, get down and pray a couple prayers. Though this
woman bowed to the authority of Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ
of God. And also not only that, look
at Luke chapter one, and I wind up with this. Luke chapter one,
I gotta move along. The second thing in this fifth
morsel is this, Christ performing mercy and remembering his holy
covenant. That's what God's people feast
on. Now Luke chapter one, verse 67,
and his father Zacchaeus. Now this is about John the Baptist,
and of course his father. And his father Zacchaeus was
filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesied, saying, Blessed be
the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed his
people. You see, the very coming of Jesus
Christ manifested that God Almighty would do everything. He called
it redemption, and the child Jesus wasn't even born yet. You
understand, or maybe was still a baby yet. But look, here we're
gonna move on. And hath raised up an horn of
salvation. He ain't talking about his son
John the Baptist here. He talking about the Messiah
here. And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house
of his servant David. That's the Messianic line. as
he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been
since the world began. The prophets didn't come up with
this. They were just telling men and women what God had already
declared to be true before the foundation of the world, that
we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all that
hate us. to perform the mercy promised
to our fathers. You see that? You see, God promised
mercy. So bless God, somebody's gonna
get mercy. I wanna be one of those. I wanna
be one of those, to perform the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant. I thank God through Jesus Christ,
our Lord. What a gospel promise. Somebody
says, I don't see any gospel in Lamentations 3, then you are
blind to all spiritual truth. I mean, you're just blind, blind,
blind. This, I recall to my mind, because
folks, it's gotta be personal for you. It ain't good enough,
well, my mom and dad believed this, my grandpa believed this,
my grandma believed it, it don't matter. You gotta go in the straight
gate. Walk on the narrow way. This
I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord's
mercies that I am not consumed. Read it that way. There's nothing
wrong with that, is it? But thank God I'm not alone in this. Wouldn't it be just a horror
if you was the only one saved? And everybody else around you
was a reprobate? Isaiah felt that way, didn't
he? But what did God tell him? I got 7,000. Now you don't know
about it, but I got 7,000 more. We ain't never alone. We may
feel alone. We ain't never alone. Because
Christ said, I behold, I am with you even unto the ends of the
earth. This I recall to my mind, therefore,
have I hope it is of the Lord's mercies we are not consumed,
because his compassions, they don't fail. They don't fail even
when I think they do. That's the glory of it. Even
when I think they might. because his compassions fail
not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. Now, do you wonder why I sang
number 208? I think that song kind of fits that passage. Well,
that song was taken from that passage. Our Heavenly Father,
we pray, oh God, may it be that hearing your word today, we've
heard with an ear and an eye and a heart that come from you. Comfort us with these things
but also strengthen us for our walk in this world Lord to help
help us never to take your mercy for granted Lord, thank you for
the food. We have here. We we do honor
the requests those made by Sandy and her grandson Lord intervene
in that way, which you know best and comfort is in that way that
we know that you could touch a body and and heal that body,
but we also know you bring things to pass for your own sovereign
purpose, and it's the wise way. God, bow us under your authority.
In Christ's name, amen.