Well, we are indeed blessed today
to be here. May the Lord give us understanding
and love for His Word. You know, that's those whom the
Lord, the Scripture says that they are cast away from the presence
of the Lord because they receive not the love of the truth that
they might be saved. And it is uh... by the grace
of god that we have received the love of the truth and uh... we uh... peter confessed that
he loved the truth when he said lord to whom shall we go thou
hast the words of eternal life that is to love the truth to
be able to go to no place else where else would we go to find
the truth other than Jesus Christ. I mean, we surely cannot expect
to find the truth in any of the leaders in this world. Just like
Brother Al said, the whole world's gone crazy before our eyes. And
you know, it's always been that way. But the Lord, in his mercy,
is showing us more clearly just how far from him that the world
lies. You know, the world is lying
in darkness. It's always been that way, but
the Lord has removed his restraints, more so in this present time,
and showed men what they really are by nature. And the pathway
that we're on is a pathway to destruction, always has been.
but it's more clearly revealed now. And I believe that's a mercy
for the people of God, that we might not be lulled to sleep
in thinking that anything that this world can tell us is of
any use whatsoever. Not a bit of good to us whatsoever,
because the world has an agenda which is not Christ. And I believe
in the days that come, we're going to have more and more of
the siren song of the flesh that tries to cause everybody to know
we're all one big happy family. We're all serving the same God. We're all going to the same place. Everybody just, you know, let's
all get in this thing together and sing kumbaya and everything's
gonna be great. But The word of God cuts exactly
contrary to all of that. There's one message. There's
one truth. Brother Bobby read about it a
moment ago. The Lord Jesus said, I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. There is no other way. And that's
not a message that's received well in the world. Now the world
tolerates it. because it's kind of said with
a wink and a nod in most places. You know, I mean, most churches,
they don't really make a big deal out of it, but the gospel
makes a big deal out of it. And the preaching of Jesus Christ
and Him crucified is that big deal. And that is the message
that we must preach. This is the day of salvation. And it is that day when Christ
will be magnified. Now, as Brother Al pointed out
there a moment ago in that all of those false prophets and those
people that would lead people astray, whether it be a member
of your family or whatever, they would be stoned. Now there are
those activists among the people of God, even, who would try to
stir up the people of God to activism in the carnal way. Now, you know, I'm not saying
there's not some carnal fashion in which we are to be active
in lawful things. But the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal. We must never lose sight of that.
And we're not, as bad as things may be, we're not trusting the
arm of the flesh. Our safety is not in firearms. Now, I'm not against somebody
having guns, don't get me wrong. I mean, if somebody breaks in
your house to do harm to you and your family, You know, I'm
not saying that you shouldn't take out a gun and shoot him,
but I'm saying this. Don't rest easy at night knowing
that you've got a pistol in your side pocket or whatever, you
know, under your pillow or wherever you might keep one. Because that's
not your safety. You know, our trust is in the
Lord. And, you know, he told his disciples When they walked
with him, they didn't, he said you didn't need purse or script
or sword or whatever, he said, but now I says I'm going away,
he said you need to get you a sword. Now you take that for whatever
you wish it were, but he wasn't telling them trust in the sword,
he's just saying this is a world which is fraught with many dangers.
And there are people in the world that don't deserve to live. Now that may sound harsh, but
that's the fact. But it's not that we take up
arms against people because they don't believe what we believe
or because they preach something that's totally contrary to what
we believe. You know, that's not what I'm saying at all. But
you've got wisdom enough to know what the difference of that is.
We're not called to be, to fight the government. much as i'd like
to you know that's not what the lord didn't call us to do that
he didn't call us to to go you know break down the the doors
of the capital and all of that stuff our warfare the only warfare
that god's people are called to is by the declaration of the
Word of God, casting down imagination. See, that's the power of God,
is it not? It's not in all these things
that people think. It is. You know, as much as I
might hate abortion, the Lord hasn't called us to go burn down
abortion clinics. Because that's not the problem. See, the problem's in the hearts
of men. That's where the problem is. And unless the Lord sees
fit to awaken men, that's just the way people are going to go.
So we need to declare the truth of God without equivocation,
wherever we can, as straightforwardly as we can, taking no prisoners. You know, Stonewall Jackson,
he said that the way that, or he felt like one of the mistakes
of the South in the Civil War. Now whether you believe the South
was right or wrong in the war, I'm not even discussing that,
but I'm just pointing out the fact that his position was that
when you went into battle, you didn't take any prisoners. Now
where did he get that from? He got it right out of the pages
of the Bible, because that's the way they fought war when
they fought war. They just fought war, and that
was, you know, they did it. I mean, they killed everybody.
Men, women, children, they got rid of them, and that was the
way it was to be. He said the war would have been
over pretty quick if they'd have done that, but that wasn't in
the purpose of God, and God hadn't sent us to wage that kind of
warfare, and I'm not promoting it. But I'm just pointing out
the fact that the declaration of the word of
God is a take no prisoners approach. We're not trying to win friends
and influence people. We're trying to tell men what
the truth of God is. And some people will believe
it. Some people will be indifferent to it. And some people will hate
it. but it doesn't make any difference.
Sometimes they may be members of our own family. Doesn't make
any difference. Do we love them any less? No.
Do we compromise what we believe because of our love for them?
No. That's what the Lord said. You
know, you got to, in comparison to your love for him, your love
to your family is nothing. Now that doesn't mean that we
don't love our families, we do. But we do not sacrifice the truth
of God for our family's sake. We must stand for those things
that are true. Now here we are in Psalm 119,
and we're in verse 49. And this is Zan, one of the letters
of the Hebrew alphabet. Remember the word unto thy servant,
upon which thou hast caused me to hope, that is my comfort in
my afflictions, for thy word hath quickened me. The proud
have had me greatly in derision, yet have I not declined from
thy law. I remember thy judgments of old,
O Lord, and have comforted myself. Horror hath taken hold upon me
because of the wicked that forsake thy law. Thy statutes have been
my songs in the house of my pilgrimage. I have remembered thy name, O
Lord, in the night, and have kept thy law. This I had because
I kept thy precepts. And then sheth. Thou art my portion,
O Lord. I have said that I would keep
thy words. I entreated thy favor with my
whole heart. Be merciful unto me according
to thy word. I thought on my ways and turned
my feet unto thy testimonies. I made haste and delayed not
to keep thy commandments. The hands of the wicked have
robbed me, or the bands, can't read, the bands of the wicked
have robbed me, but I have not forgotten thy law. At midnight
I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous
judgments. I am a companion of all them
that fear thee and of them that keep thy precepts. The earth,
O Lord, is full of thy mercy. Teach me thy statutes. Now, as we pointed out last week,
there are recurring words, and I've still got that list that
I wrote down here that are in practically every one of these
sections of this psalm, statutes, law, commandments, testimonies,
judgments, precepts, and thy word. I mean, those are recurring
things. That's what this psalm is about. And who better to be speaking
of loving that word, that law, that testimony, those commandments,
than the one who gave those commandments and who tabernacled among men
in the likeness of sinful flesh, yet without sin and perfectly
kept and loved that law. And so we believe very strongly
that this psalm, as many of the rest of them, in fact most of
them, are the declarations and the words of Christ as he would
set forth the perfection of a man. Now he's speaking as a man here. So that he might be an example.
Now we know that whoever wrote this, probably David, I mean
we don't know that for a fact, but we think it probably was.
that wrote this psalm. No doubt, you know, these are
His words. The Lord gave Him these words.
He wrote them down, but this was that which is the words given
to Christ by the Spirit of God as He walked among men, and He
desired to walk in the law of God, to keep the testimonies
of God. Remember thy word unto thy servant,
or that is, make me to remember it. Lord, put it in my memory. Remember, as he says in another
place, thy law have I hid in my heart that I might not sin
against thee. It is a good thing to remember
the word of God. Now, one of the things that the
Lord does in causing us to remember his word is to give us a desire
to read the Word of God and to memorize the Word of God. These
things are good to do. I mean, I'd never tell a man
that says, I want to memorize the Scriptures, I'd never tell
him not to do that. Now if a man thinks that by memorizing
the scriptures he's going to gain points with the Lord, or
there's going to be some mark in his crown, or he's going to
get some reward as a result of it, then I would tell him he's
marking up the wrong tree. But the benefit of meditating
upon the Word of God is its own blessing. I mean, you know, you
don't do these things to get a blessing, it is a blessing
when God gives a man a love for the Word of God. Remember thy
word, cause that these things to be in my memory, upon which
thou hast caused me to hope. Now, you know, hope is a word
that Often the way that we use hope in our language does not
give justice to the way that the scriptures usually speak
about what hope is. Now, when we say we hope something,
what we mean usually is we don't know if it's going to come to
pass or not, but we hope it will. So it's a hope, so we hope. And sometimes you'll hear people
say, well I hope that I am one of the Lord's. Now there's nothing
wrong with a person saying that, nothing wrong with a person doing
that. But that's not the hope that is spoken of here. It's
not the hope that is spoken of as the hope of the children of
God. The hope of the children of God is a real hope. It is
that which has a basis. See, sometimes people hope. I
mean, I hope to make a million dollars next year. But that really
has no basis. I probably won't do that. You
know, now there's some people that that would be a minor thing.
I mean, you know, some of these guys, they'll probably make that
next week. That won't be any big deal to
them. But that's not, we're not hoping to do something in that
way, but it is our hope. Christ is our hope. He's the
one upon whom all our hopes rest. We wait upon Him. He is our hope. And that's what he says here,
unto which thou hast called me to hope. That is, as Peter said,
Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. See, Peter expressed his hope in Christ. He said, you
are the one upon whom all my hopes are set. I don't have another.
There's no place else I can turn. You are my hope. which thou hast
caused me to hope, so it is a basis. This is my comfort in my affliction,
for thy word hath quickened me. The proud have had me greatly
indurision, yet have I not declined from thy law. I remember thy
judgments of old, O Lord, and have comforted myself. Now the word of God is a quickening
power. The Lord uses his word in the
quickening of his people. Just as he used his word in the
quickening of Lazarus. Remember we talked about that
a couple weeks ago. I mean, Lazarus was awakened
by the word of God, was he not? Now how is that? How does that
occur? You, Paul said, in you which
were dead in trespasses and sins hath he quickened. And he does
that through his word. Now some have made the, I believe,
error in thinking that that has to be done by somebody preaching
words. That a preacher has to stand
up and tell somebody something in order for the Lord to quicken
them. I don't believe that's true. The Lord's able to quicken
a man by applying the word to his heart. Now the Lord does
indeed send men with the Word, but the quickening power of the
Word of God does not depend on preachers, it depends on the
Spirit of God to quicken the hearts of men through His Word.
And so He does indeed enliven the saints of God through the
preached Word, but He's not like waiting and hoping that somebody
will come along. But the Lord is able to give
man the light that he needs to quicken him. Was the Ethiopian
eunuch, was he dead still in trespasses and sins when Philip
came to him? No, he was already quickened,
he was made alive. He was without understanding. He needed some help, just like
Apollos. I mean, when the Lord sent Aquila
and Priscilla to Him to expand to Him the Word of God more perfectly,
to give Him understanding. But you see, the Lord had already
quickened his heart. His mind and heart was already
dwelling on the Word of God and he was desiring to know. Even
as the Lord sent Paul to Ananias. that the Lord might help him
through Ananias. And so it is that the Lord does
use men, but he's not bound up waiting and men are sitting around
hoping and wait, well, we just hope somebody will show up and
so we can be quickened. No, the word of God is that which
quickens the people of God through by the power of the Spirit. Now
I was thinking on this And a passage of Scripture came to my mind,
as he says here, thy word hath quickened me, he
says, I remember thy judgments of old, O Lord, and have comforted
myself. Now over in 2 Peter, this passage
of Scripture came to my mind. Over in 2 Peter, now if I can
find it. All right, what Peter says here,
now listen to this. He said, and this is 2 Peter
2, or 2 Peter 1, 16. For we have not followed cunningly
devised fables. Now he said, thy word is that
which I have rested in. We've not followed cunningly
devised fables. We didn't make this up. Now you
see, that's what the world would say when they look at the Bible
and say, ah, that's just a bunch of stuff a bunch of men wrote.
I mean, you know, it's just stuff people made that up. Peter says,
we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known
unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but
were eyewitnesses of his majesty. We saw him. We were there on
the Mount of Transfiguration when the father said, this is
my beloved son. hear ye him we heard it we were
our witnesses for he received from God the Father honor and
glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory
this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased he said in
this voice which came from heaven we heard we didn't imagine it
he said we heard it with our ears we saw him and we heard
it we were there There are eyewitnesses of this. And this voice which
came from heaven we heard when we were with Him in the Holy
Mount. This isn't something somebody
told them. This is something they were expecting
or that they were in the presence of. But listen to what he says
here. And this voice which came from
heaven we heard when we were with Him in the Holy Mount. We
have also a more sure word of prophecy. Where unto ye do well
that ye take heed is unto a light that shineth in a dark place
until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts, knowing
this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private
interpretation. That is, men didn't make this
up. They didn't come up with it. They didn't figure it out.
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man,
but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. He says, not only are we eyewitnesses
of his majesty, but we have a more sure word of prophecy. He said,
we have a word of prophecy that's just as sure, as steadfast, as
certain as that which we saw with our own eyes. And he said,
we had that before we saw him. This is a more sure word of prophecy,
he said, because it's an older word of prophecy. What he's speaking
about is the prophetic scriptures in the Old Testament that foretold
of Christ. And of course we know that since
that time the Lord has given His word through the apostles
as He said He would. And He said that they spoke by
the will of God as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. We didn't
make this up. He said I have remembered thy
judgments of old, O Lord, they have comforted myself, because
I know these things are true." How does a man know the Word
of God is true? I can't convince you of it, can I? I mean, if you don't believe
the Bible is the Word of God, what am I going to do? Not a
thing in the world I can do. But you know, when the Lord convinces
a man that the Bible is the word of God, what can you do to keep
him from believing it? Not a thing in the world. You
can't do a thing about it. You can kill him. You can shut him up. You can
do all sorts of things in the flesh, but you can't keep a man
from believing that which God is pleased to show him is true.
And so he says, I've comforted myself in it. Horror hath taken
hold upon me because of the wicked that forsaketh thy law. Now when
he says horror's taken hold of me, he's not saying, oh no. It's not that kind of horror,
but rather he's talking about the fact that it was a thing
he hated. He said, I hate it when men don't
believe the word of God. I mean, we expect it, but we
don't like it. When men make a mockery of the
things of God, are we surprised? Not at all. Do we like it? No. Why? Because he's speaking
against that one in whom all of our hopes are placed. They are on me because the wicked
that forsake thy law, thy statutes have been my songs in the house
of my pilgrimage. That is, I'm just here for a
short period of time. Now the Lord Jesus Christ surely
was. Was he not? Then as he was, so
are we. I mean, we're just passing through.
We're on a pilgrimage. Solomon speaks in the book of
the Song of Solomon about my long home, or in the book of
Ecclesiastes, speaks about going to his long home. What's your
long home? Your long home is one that is
not a journey. See, we're not going to it. It's
that place where we dwell with him. I have remembered thy name,
O Lord, in the night, and have kept thy law. This I had because
I kept thy precepts. That is, and the words used there
for kept, kept the law and kept the precepts, they're different
words. They have two different, we have
two different understandings. He says, I kept the law, that
is, it was a precious thing to me. See, when a man is keeping
the law, it doesn't mean that he obeys it. every jot and tittle. Now we know the Lord did do that.
But when he says, I have kept thy law, it means I have held
it to my heart. I've kept it. I've put it in
a safe place. But then he says, this I had
because I kept thy precepts. That is, I guarded them. They
were precious to me. They are those things in which
I delight. So if we keep the law of God,
we keep it because it's precious to us, but we guard it because
it is the word of God. In other words, it is that which
we would defend. You know, if someone we love,
if they have made some statement and somebody comes along and
says, well, they're a liar, What would we say? I mean, if
we know that that person that we love is not a liar, how would
we react to that? We wouldn't like that, would
we? We would defend them. We do defend the law of God.
We keep the precepts of God because we guard them. They're precious
to us in spite of what the world says. Thou art my portion, O
Lord. I have said that I would keep
thy words. I entreated thy favor with my
whole heart. Be merciful unto me according
to thy word. Now if the Lord Jesus Christ,
the perfect man who walked as our example, if he sought the
mercy of God, the scripture says that he was heard and that he
feared and that he learned obedience by the things which he suffered.
If he sought the mercy of God, How much more are we? Now he
didn't seek the mercy of God because he needed the mercy of
God to cover his sin because he had none. But he sought the
mercy of God for our sake. Because as that man is our perfect
substitute, he needed the mercy of God. I mean, when the sin
of his people is placed upon him, he becomes the sinner's
substitute. And he stands before the Lord
as he has made sin for us. And he seeks mercy not for his
own sin, but for ours. But he knows that as a man, in
weakness. Will there ever be a time in
our existence throughout eternity when sin has been eradicated
that we won't need the mercy of God? We need the mercy of
God. The mercy of God is not just that which is shown on account
of overlooking our sin or taking care of our sin. but it is that
God would show favor to us, mercy, kindness, and we need that. We'll always need that. We'll
never be in a place where we don't need the mercy of God. I thought on my ways and turned
my feet unto thy testimonies. I made haste and delayed not
to keep thy commandments. Oh, what a glorious thing to
think on our ways. I mean, the Lord thought on his
ways, did he not? I mean, if he thought on his
ways and his ways were without fault, how much more ought we
to think on our ways and see how far short of the way of God
that we come? I have thought on thy ways, and
I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments. The
bands of the wicked have robbed me, but I have not forgotten
thy law. or as the men ganged up against
me. If you're in this world long
enough, you will see the world against you. They're not for
you. But I have not forgotten thy
law. And if anybody typifies that would be the Lord Jesus
Christ as men ganged up. You realize that when they brought
him before the council there at his trial, the scripture says
that they suborned men, that is, they paid men to come testify
falsely against him. They gathered up men. Now think
about that. No doubt some of these men were
men that were out there every day and saw the miracles that
he did and saw the kindness that he did. but because they did
not love the word of God, they were easily turned aside. They
said, oh yeah, if you give me $50, yeah, I'll come down there
and tell them anything you want to hear. The bands have, they've
come against him. As they will to all the people
of God at midnight, I will rise to give thanks unto thee because
of thy righteous judgments. And is that not Do we not see
that in the Garden of Gethsemane as the Lord Jesus poured out
His soul unto death in our behalf as He prayed there? He prayed
not for His own self, but He prayed for the glory of God and
for the benefit of His people. He said, Father, I pray not for
the world, but for them whom Thou hast given Me out of the
world. Keep them, Father, that they may be one, even as we are
one. that they may be led together and given unity. At midnight
I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous
judgments. As he prayed, as the weight of
sin was put upon him, and as, we can't really enter into this
in our minds, I don't think in any meaningful way, but maybe
a little bit, that he was pressed so hard with the sin of men,
And he was desirous of doing the Father's will and of being
pleasant, pleasing in the Father's sight. He loved the law of God.
Yet the only way that he could please the Father was to be judged
as a lawbreaker. Now you talk about a dilemma. Think of it. I mean, how could
it be that a man who wanted no more than anything else to do
the will of God and to be found pleasing in the sight of his
father, being pressed here with this situation where he could
not please his father except by becoming displeasing. to his father. Now, I mean, that's
what he prayed for. He said, Father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me. This was a pressing thing upon
him as a man. It was crushing him. Yet, what
did he say? Nevertheless, not as I will,
but as thou wilt. Is that not what he told his
disciples to pray? May thy will be done in the earth
as it is in the heavens. He gave thanks that the will
of God would be done. He said, Father, nevertheless,
let thy will be done. And he gave himself up unto those
righteous judgments of God. I'm a companion of all them that
fear thee and of them that keep thy precepts. Who will the Lord
save? He'll save all those that fear
him. Now that's, I don't think a man would be hard pressed to
find a place in the scripture that would cause that statement
not to be found untrue. Those that fear the Lord shall
be saved. Those that tremble at the mention
of His name, those that desire His presence, those that love
His way, them that keep thy precepts, that is, they hold those things
to their heart. The earth, O Lord, is full of
thy mercy. Teach me thy statutes. Oh, what
a glorious thing. The earth is full of the mercy
of God. Is it not? I mean, did not the
Lord send forth his disciples into the world and he said, go
and preach the gospel to all nations? Did he not display the
mercy of God throughout the earth? I mean, has he held back the
truth of God? This week's Grace Gazette is,
he says, in fact, it's in the next Psalm here, he says, I was
for peace, but they were for war. I am for peace, but when
I speak, they are for war. I mean the mercy of God is made
so evident in the earth. He sent his own begotten son
to die for sinners. What greater mercy could be displayed? And yet men will turn a deaf
ear. Men will not hear his word. The earth is full of the mercy
of the Lord, teach me thy statutes." I want to learn the statutes
of God. I want the precepts of God written
upon my heart. I want to know His way. I know
how imperfect any desire I have is, but nonetheless, that desire,
what desire I have is from the Lord, is it not? I couldn't ever
come up with it. John said, we know that we passed
from death unto life because we love the brethren. Now do
we love the brethren perfectly? Can we at all times say we love
the brethren as we ought? No, man be a fool to say that
he did, but I can say that I love the brethren. Now how can I love,
why do I love the brethren? I don't know. I couldn't tell you, but I know
the Lord has given me a love for the people of God, and I
know that it couldn't come from me. It couldn't, because those
things are the gift of God. It's the blessing of God, the
mercy of God. That mercy is displayed in Christ.
Would you know the mercy of God? There's only one place to see
it, only one place to behold it, only one place to embrace
it. And that's in Jesus Christ, the Savior of sinners. Save such
as call upon him. He said he would dwell with those
that fear him. Oh, that the Lord might give
us a fear of God.