We're looking here at Psalms. Amazing Grace. You know, that's a song that's sung by multitudes,
probably the best known hymn that there is. And it is unfortunate, as far
as men are concerned as we look at it, that multitude sing that
song without any knowledge of what that song is actually about.
For it is amazing grace. It's something that's not just
a song that even secular singers can stand up and sell records
that they made singing it and everything. But it is the The
whole reason that we have to be here today is grace. I mean,
why do we desire to praise the name of God when multitudes have
no concern whatsoever to do that? Now, of course, the religious
man, he says, well, we need to get them educated and straightened
out and all that kind of stuff. They're just not quite as into
it as we are. We're just, you know, just a
notch above them. But brethren, we're no different
than the lowest beggar on earth except that the Lord in his mercy
has visited us and brought us out of darkness and into the
light. And thus, if we have light, we
have it because he gave it to us. We don't have a thing I was
thinking all the while as Brother Al shared with us that lesson
this morning, I was thinking of what Paul said, for who maketh
thee to differ from another, and what hast thou that thou
didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory? as if thou hast not received
it. What do we have? What can we lay claim to that
God has not put within our hands and blessed us with? He's gracious
in all of his dealings with us. And Psalm 126, you know, another thing I thought
as we sang that song, that last song, And Can It Be, Of course,
that song was written by Charles Wesley, who, along with his brother
and George Whitefield, started what is now known as the Methodist
Church. And of course, as time has gone
on, the Methodist have departed from
some of the very things that some of those that were their
founders believed. Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
fast bound in sin and nature's night. Thine eye diffused a quickening
ray. I woke the dungeon flame with
light. Brethren, there's never been
a more clear declaration of grace visited upon a sinner than that. Because we were imprisoned in
darkness without any help or hope when the Lord sent forth
a light and illuminated that darkness. How glorious. One other thing that I noticed
in hymn books, I don't know why it is that men sometimes, well-meaning
men, I'm not criticizing them on the one hand, on the other
hand I am, that men sometimes feel it necessary to tone down
the plain declaration of the sovereign grace of God. And you'll notice in that hymn
book, that three of those verses in that hymn have little notches
out by them. And what that means is if you've
got to leave out a verse, leave out the one verse in that song
is the one verse that I would sing if I had to leave the rest
of them out, is the one they mark, that you can leave that
one off. Well, you can't leave that off,
because I believe Charles Wesley would roll over in his grave
if he didn't sing that verse, because he understood that. Psalm 126. This is another of
the Song of Degrees. Now, we would believe that likely
this was written that David probably did not write this particular
psalm, and the reason that we would think that is because it
would appear that this has to do with the return of the Jews from the Babylonian
captivity, which, of course, David would have been dead by
then. But the Lord could have given
it to him prophetically, and he could have given it to him
as he's given it to us. We speak of being those that
were in captivity were set free and we've not actually been in
captivity, literally. We've never known what it is
to be in captivity as a nation. But we have known what captivity
is if the Lord has shown us that we were in prison and in darkness
and without help or hope, except he did help us and give us hope. And so Psalm 126, we read, When
the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that
dream. Then was our mouth filled with
laughter, and our tongue with singing. Then said they among
the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them. The Lord
hath done great things for us whereof we are glad. Turn again
our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south. They that
sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth
bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing
his sheaves with him. Now when the Lord turned again
the captivity of Zion, that is when He overturned the captivity
of Zion, when He brought those who were in captivity out of
captivity. And of course we see that when
the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion. Now there were a lot
of nations that were taken captive in the earth, but the only ones
that's recorded in the Scriptures for us that is a place of rejoicing
is when Zion was delivered from captivity because only those
who are the inhabitants of Zion could have an appreciation for
what it is to be taken out of prison and delivered. And so
it is that we understand spiritually that this has to do with any
captivity which the sons of God find themselves in. When the
Lord brings back that captivity, even as it was to them, we were
like them that dream. This is a glorious thing. It's
unbelievable. As Brother Bobby was setting
forth there. You know, it's a thing we can't
fathom it. We can't imagine it. We were
like them that dream. I mean, it's too good to be true.
You want to pinch yourself. It can't be true. Sometimes I
think, you know, is this really my... I mean, could this possibly
be the truth? I mean that the Lord of glory,
a holy God who hates sin, despises the workers of iniquity, the
scripture says. He will not at all acquit the
wicked. He will not clear the guilty. Can it be true that this
same One would bring forth the captives who willingly rebelled
against Him and clothed them with robes like the prodigal
son who was unworthy of the least of his father's mercy and yet
the Lord poured out that mercy? Don't you imagine that the prodigal
son when he woke up in the morning after being in the pig pen and
being brought to his father's house and he woke up and I'm
sure that the stench of that hog pen was still upon him. Because
if you've ever been around hogs or messed with them much, you
know that's not a scent that goes away very quickly. And he
still had that on him, no doubt, but yet he woke up in his father's
house and he had to say, this can't be true. This can't be
real. But it was, because of the love
that his father had for him, as he clothed him with the best
robe that he had, and he killed the fatted calf, and it was true.
And you see, that's the thing that causes God's people to rejoice
at the sound of grace, sovereign, amazing, saving grace, because
it could not be true any other way. The man who thinks that
he just somehow or other stumbles upon salvation, that he came
along and, well, he heard this thing and he decided. You know,
it's like somebody sticks a knife in my heart when I hear somebody
give a testimony. Well, I just came and I found
the Lord. Well, dear brethren, it may be
true that you found the Lord, but if you did indeed, it is
because He found you. Because long before you were
ever seeking Him, He sought you. Long before you ever called upon
His name, He called you. And He called you by name. He
said, I call my sheep by name. I know them. And they hear my
voice. And they follow me. Oh, what
a glorious work of grace, dear brethren. How can it be that
a sinner should come to follow Christ, except the Lord does
change his heart and his mind, his being. As the Lord said to
Nicodemus, you must be born again. Nicodemus, except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Oh, what a glorious one
he is. When the Lord turned again the
captivity of Zion, we were like them that dreamed. Then was our
mouth filled with laughter. Do you ever just laugh when you
think about the goodness of God? You know, sometimes when I'm
doing some sort of a project and things don't go just like
I think they should, anybody's ever done any work on a car can
understand this. You always, especially as you
get older and it's not as easy to get up and down as it once
was, and you get down ready to do a job and you realize that
the one thing you need is the one thing you don't have. And
it took you two minutes to get under the thing where you could
get to where you needed to do what you needed to do. And now
you've got to do all of that again. And you've got to get
out and get the part that you need. And I've often found myself,
first, just being aggravated. And then just because I believe
the spirit of God teaches me something. And it just makes
me laugh to think You know, here I am complaining about some little
old something like this, when the Lord in mercy, he provided
all things for me and he would teach me. You see, when the Lord,
the Lord will teach you patience if you ask for it, but he won't
teach it to you like you wanted it to be taught to you. He'll
teach you to be patient, but it won't be a kind little lesson
that he'll bring it to you with. But praise God. Then was our
mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue was seen. And you
know, only as the Spirit of God works in a man can he rejoice
at the afflictions and the troubles and the trials that the Lord
pleased to bring upon him. Because He understands that all
of these things are designed for His benefit. He's blessed
by them. And His heart is filled with
joy and glory at the thought of it. Our tongue was singing,
Then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things
for them. Now you can imagine when the Lord brought again the captivity
of Zion out of Babylonian captivity and they were let loose and brought
back to the homeland. Many of the Babylonians around
them must have said, you know, the Lord has blessed them. I
mean, how can this be? You know, they've been brought
out of slavery. The nations of the earth. I mean, even as Rahab
testified, to those men, she said, we've heard about you people. Says, the Lord has blessed you. You see, the blessings of God
can't be hidden. Now, the men of this world can't
understand it, and they don't know what it is. See, I mean,
the world, they don't know why the people of God rejoice. I
mean, they might see the people of God rejoicing, but they don't
understand it, but they say, well, you know, that's a good
thing. But you see, God's people, the Lord has done great things
for us where we are glad. I mean, the world may see a blessing. You know, most people, I think,
even some people, you know, they would say, well, you know, I
wish that I was a Christian. I wish I could be a Christian.
You know, I've had people tell me that. You know, I'd like to
be a Christian. Well, now, what they mean by
that is, that they would like to be, have reason to rejoice,
and they would like, they see the happiness that might sometimes
happiness that would appeal to the world might not be the happiness
of the Lord, but they have an understanding to some extent
that the blessing of God's visited upon the children of God, and
they say, well, I'd like to be that. Well, they want to be that
for the benefit that it is to them. But you see, just because
a man says, I would like to be a Christian, doesn't mean that
he would desire to know Christ. It means that he would like to
get the outward blessings of it. And there's a multitude today
that serve God for loaves and fishes, just like there were
in the days of Christ. They followed him faithfully. They wanted to go, man, let's
go down there and listen to this man, because you know afterward,
he's going to throw a big feed, and we'll all get some food.
It's going to be a good thing. It's going to bless us. The Lord has done great things
for us where we're glad. See, we know what the Lord has
done for us. It's not all these external things
that men would like to have or think they're going to get by
following the Lord, but we're made glad because our gladness
is in things that the world knows nothing about. They don't know
why we would be glad. Turn again our captivity, O Lord,
as the streams in the south. Turn again our captivity. Well,
wait, weren't we just brought out of captivity? But see, the
man who's been brought out of captivity understands that though
he's been delivered, he is yet. in a place where he needs to
be delivered. Paul says, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? See, we're made captives even
though we're free. Or we are captives even though
we're free. Because we're still laboring
in this land of sorrow and sin and all these things around us. And we desire the Lord to set
us free from all of this. These bodies, now a young man
can't really appreciate this. He can't really have any understanding
of what it is to desire to be free from a body, these bodies
of limitation. Because when a man's young and
vigorous and he can just do anything. I mean, he can climb up a tree
just like nothing be doing, you know, there's nothing to it.
He just can do what he wants to do. But as a man gets older,
he realizes these bodies, you know, they're not what they once
were. I can't do the things just like I'm talking about, about
getting down and getting up. You know, I used to laugh at
that commercial that was on where the lady, she says, I've fallen
and I can't get up. And people make a big joke about
that. But I can understand it. You know, I can see it. I know
what it is. I mean, I know the difficulties
that come with these things. And so we are captives in these
bodies, houses of clay, because we're failing. From the moment
that we're born, we're failing. You know, we're going downward.
And we're getting weaker, not stronger. But it's a captivity
which the Lord has promised to deliver His people from. And
we know that because what we see here before us today. And
we remember his death until he comes again. Because when he
comes again, the scripture says that he will raise these vile
bodies from the ground. And we'll be given a body which
is not susceptible to all of those failures and weaknesses
and failings. I don't know how that's going
to be. Can't explain it to you, couldn't describe it to you in
any detail. But that's what the Lord said. Now how do I know that it will
be a real body? Because after he rose from the
dead, he walked with his disciples in a real body. And he prepared
a meal for them and he ate with them by the sea. So I don't know
what it'll be, but I know that there is a captivity from which
we shall be released, which is that captivity which holds us
The Lord, as that one which the Lord said to his disciples when
he said, could you not watch with me for one hour? He said, the spirit is willing,
but the flesh is weak. But you see, the weakness of
that flesh is gonna be taken away. That is the captivity which
the people of God desire to be delivered from. Oh Lord, as strains
in the south, they that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Now this is the blessing of God
that though darkness may endure for a night, but joy cometh in
the morning. See, the hope of God's people
is a hope deferred. It's not that which we're given.
We're given the prospect of it. When I can read my title clear
to mansions in the skies. See, when the Lord gives us a
glimpse of those things, we are blessed. We rejoice, and they
that sow in tears shall reap in joy, because even though there
is sadness and heartache in this world, there is that joy which
cometh in the morning. That is the presence of Christ. Now, not everybody would be happy
in the presence of Christ. Only those who've been born again
by the Spirit of God could be happy in the presence of Christ. He that goeth forth and weepeth,
bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing,
bearing his sheaves with him. Now no doubt that's to be taken
with verse 5. That is a description and that
is the result. They that sow in tears shall
reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth,
bearing precious seed. And while there is an application
of that to the sons of God in our present state, And we do
impress upon the people of God to carry on. Don't turn aside, don't turn
to the left, don't turn to the right, press on to the mark.
Because even though there may be a struggle in the present
time, there is joy at the end of the road. But I believe this
is more rightly looked at, this particular verse 6, as a prophetic
view of Christ. Because He is that One that went
forth weeping, bearing precious seed, the seed that the Lord
gave Him. He said, the Father has given
them to Me. They belong to Me. And He came
bearing Our names written upon His breast just like the priest
went into the Holy of Holies with the names of the twelve
tribes of Israel upon His breastplate, so too has Jesus Christ entered
in once into the holy place with our names written upon His breast.
He came forth bearing precious seed. Scripture says, He that
goeth forth and weepeth. He was a weeping. Prophet, was
he not among men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief? And we did esteem him not. Bearing precious seed, he shall
doubtless come again with rejoicing. Writer of Hebrews said, who for
the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising
the shame, and is sat down at the right hand of God. He is
that one who shall see of the travail of his soul and shall
be satisfied for joy, bringing his sheaves
with him. We which are alive and remains
shall not prevent those that are asleep. See, will not precede
them, but the Lord will bring them with him. See, he brings
all of his children together. Death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
Christ is our hope. He's our place of rejoicing.
And even as he came bearing precious seed, And he sowed in tears,
and doubtless shall come again, bringing his sheaves with him.
Now, what are the sheaves? You know, the sheaves are the
grain which has been planted, and it has grown up, and it's
been harvested. The Lord said that there was
coming a harvest, and some of that which grows
is going to be gathered into bundles and thrown into the fire. But that good grain, that one
who comes bringing his sheaves with him, you see, they're not
caught up in the conflagration of the destruction of the wicked,
but they belong to Christ. They're in him. They're with
him. And they cannot be taken away.
And so we come this morning to remember the Lord's death till
He comes. And He is coming. We have no
doubt that He's coming again. We don't know the day nor the
hour. We don't know all of the things
that yet have to unfold in the earth like some of these great
prophets of the present day claim to. You know, all these different
little things, this gotta happen, that's gotta happen, all this.
The Lord's coming as a thief in the night. He's coming. And we remember
his death until he comes. You see, we won't need, when
we have the substance, we will no longer need the picture. You
know, if you, a wife who waits on her husband who's perhaps
gone on a long trip or gone to war, and she goes and she looks
at his picture every day because it reminds her of him. And that's what this is. It's
a picture. It's reminding us of Christ. But you see, when
that which is the substance, when he is present with her,
she doesn't need to go look at his picture anymore. And so this
is a temporary feast right here. The Lord said He would drink
new with us the wine of His kingdom, in His kingdom. What a glorious
thing. And so until that time, the Lord
has given us a temporary remembrance of Him. And this is a solemn
feast, but it's a joyous feast for the children of God. And
this bread and this wine is given by the Lord to his people. It's not for the world. It's
not for a particular church. It's not for somebody to sit
by and look at somebody and say, well, you're worthy to take this
and you're not. This is for the Lord's people.
Let a man examine himself. And then it doesn't say, and
then decide not to take it, does it? It says, let a man examine
himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that
cup. Don't take of this cup of the
Lord unworthily, that is, without due consideration of it, without
due looking unto your own thought process, do you rejoice in Christ? I mean, is this bread that which
is life unto you, the body of Christ? Is that that which is
in itself the hope that you have, that Christ broke his body for
your sake, that he poured out his blood for your sake? Then
so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup, because
this is the Lord's body, and it is his blood, in type and
foreshadow, in picture, in remembrance. May we remember the Lord's death
till he comes again today.