We're in Psalm 31, verse 11. I was a reproach among all mine
enemies, but especially among my neighbors, in the fear of
mine acquaintance. They that did see me fled without,
fled from me. I am forgotten as a dead man
out of mine. I am like a broken vessel, for
I have heard the slander of many. Fear was on every side while
they took counsel together against me. They devised to take away
my life. But I trusted in Thee, O Lord.
I said, Thou art my God. My times are in Thy hand. Deliver
me from the hand of mine enemies and from them that persecute
me. Make Thy face to shine upon Thy servant. Save me for Thy
mercy's sake. Let me not be ashamed, O Lord,
for I have called upon Thee. Let the wicked be ashamed, and
let them be silent in the grave. Let the lying lips be put to
silence, which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously
against the righteous. O how great is Thy goodness,
which Thou hast wrought for them that trust in Thee before the
sons of men! Thou shalt hide them in the secret
of Thy presence from the pride of men. Thou shalt keep them
secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. Blessed be
the Lord, for He has showed me His marvelous kindness in a strong
city. For I said in my haste, I am
cut off from before Thine eyes. Nevertheless, Thou heardest the
voice of my supplications when I cried unto Thee. O love the
Lord, all ye His saints! For the Lord preserveth the faithful
and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer. Be of good courage,
and He shall strengthen your heart, all you that hope in the
Lord." Of course, as we know, these Psalms are given to David
even as they are the words of Christ. And he was a reproach
among all his enemies. They were set on every side.
I mean, in reality, when you pause and think about
it, he was a man who had very few friends, very few who really
were interested in being with him. Now, of course, we know,
and this is indicative of how religion works, as long as he
was going about doing great and marvelous miracles and feeding
people and all of those things that people could see, the multitudes
flocked to him, and they loved that. And religious men, which
all men are born religious. Now, some men religiously... See, when we think of religion,
we often think of it in terms of something that is positive. And the Scripture does speak
in some ways about pure religion and undefiled, is this, to visit
the fatherless and the widows and to keep himself unspotted
from the world. But in general, man as a religious
creature, he just wants to... What that encompasses is his
theory and philosophies of how he approaches life. And by and
large, men approach life by looking for whatever is going to benefit
them. I mean, you don't have to teach anybody really to seek
out the things that benefit them, do they? I mean, did anybody
ever tell you to get the biggest piece of pie or to get the, you
know, if there was two chicken legs left that you didn't... I figure you needed to have both
of them. I mean, that's just the way people are. I mean, people
seek out what they think will benefit them. And religion is
something people think will benefit them. I mean, we've all seen
the signs encouraging people to go to church. Now, I wouldn't
ever discourage somebody from going to church, but I'm going
to tell you this. Desirous of going to church because
it's the thing to do is a poor religious concept that people
have. Well, we need to raise up our
children in church. Well, you'll have mixed emotions about
that. If your children don't see in
you the things that are true, then it doesn't make a difference
where you take them. You know, the benefit to raising
children in and amongst the people of God is that they see you model
those things that you say you believe. Because you can't teach
children to believe what you believe, but you can teach children
what you believe. And when they grow old, they'll
say, you know, I don't believe a word of what my daddy said,
but I know he believed it. I mean, that's the only thing
you can do is teach them what you believe. And we're given
counsel and instruction in the Scriptures to do that and to
walk according to that. But religion is a dangerous thing
because it is the place where people go to sleep. And I don't
mean physically, sometimes it even is that. But it's a place
where people get lulled to sleep. It's a place where people become
satisfied. They say, well, we're a part
of this, you know, and we do this and we do that and we are
supporting this and we're supporting that and we're just so caught
up in it and we're happy. Well, the Lord, He had no shortage. of followers as long as he was
telling folks exactly what they wanted to hear, or at least they
thought they were. But when they started listening,
they said, well, wait a minute. He is speaking some hard stuff
here. We need to rethink this. I do
not know if I want to go spend my time listening to such things
as this man is saying. And the time came when the Scripture
says no man walked any more with him. except those that were his
close disciples. They were the only ones left.
He turned to Peter and said, were you going away too? And
see, Peter exemplified what it is to be given true faith. He said, Lord, to whom shall
we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. And we believe and are sure that
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And we desire,
Lord, to follow You because You are the Christ, not because of
some benefit that we are going to get out of it, because it
may not be a benefit. I mean, they could see that people
were not the friends of the Lord, could they not? I mean, couldn't
they look around? Couldn't they just perceive that people didn't
like these things that Christ was saying? Of course they could,
but they were compelled by that work that the Lord did within
them, and they could not do any different. They just had to follow the Lord. Lord, to whom shall we go? Where
are we going to go? It doesn't make any difference.
Well, now, most people today, you know, when they think about
that, they say, well, you can go most anywhere. It's not a
problem. I mean, you know, if you want
to move somewhere or whatever, no problem. You can just go somewhere
and you can find you a church and all that. Well, you may can. The Lord may lead you to do that,
very much so. But most people don't give it
very much thought. They just figure they can just
do whatever they want to do. And that's the way they go. But
I don't know how I got off on all that, because we were talking
about how Christ was a reproach. unto his enemies. He was one
hated. He was a man of great sorrow. But especially among my neighbors,
those people that he was acquainted with. Now, he was a man just
like anybody else. He grew up in a community. And
there was a certain number of people that knew him ever since
he was a little boy. He said, a prophet is not without
honor except in his own country. People didn't believe him. You
know, I knew him when he was just a little boy. It ain't nothing
to him. We don't want nothing to do with him. See, an expert,
somebody comes in from the outside. And you know, somebody that's
smart is somebody that you don't know. Because the people you
know, they can't know anything. I mean, that's pretty dumb. We think, well, you know that
guy. I mean, I know he don't know anything. Because you see,
we see people as we are. We just don't see those other
people how they are, because all men are the same. I mean,
we don't know anything except the Lord give us an understanding
of it. I was reproached among all my
neighbors, but especially among my neighbors and a fear to my
acquaintance. They that did see me without
fled from me. They saw him coming. They said,
we won't get out of here. He's liable to corner us up and
say something to us and then we'll be on the hot seat and
we don't want to hear that. See, people don't want somebody
to cause them to doubt. I had a
fellow who was telling me the other day that, oh, I know who
it was, it was Brother Dale. He was telling me about his brother-in-law.
And his brother-in-law, he's a real religious fellow and he
goes to a you know, a church where they really get into the
swing of things and all that. And of course, Dale, every time
he gets around him, he's talking about the things of the Lord
to him. And he said, Dale, I don't want
you to talk to me about these things. He said, you cause me
to doubt my salvation. Now, brethren, you know, If a man can cause you to doubt
your salvation, don't you think it would be a good idea to look
at it pretty close? Now you might doubt whether or
not you have done something, but dear brethren, our salvation
is not what we have done. Our salvation is Christ. I don't
doubt my salvation for a moment. Now I often question whether
or not I am one of the elect of God, but I'll tell you this,
whether I'm one of the elect or not, I have to say that Christ
is my hope. I mean, He's my all in all, and
I don't believe that a man can have such a hope as that and
not be one of the elect of God, because that is the work of God
in a man. How can a man have a hope like
that? I mean, how can a man hope only in Christ and then be cast
away in the end? It can't happen. According to
the Word of God, it can't happen. He said, All that are given to
Me shall come to Me, and him that cometh to Me, what? I will
in no wise cast out. He will not cast out the least
of those who come to Him seeking mercy. He is a God of mercy.
He is a God of grace, and He saves sinners. What a glorious
Savior we have! But he was a fear to his acquaintances,
and when they saw him coming, they fled from him. So we don't
want to hear that. You'll make us doubt that what we believe
is true. Brother, you need to analyze what you believe every
day. You need to look at it and see
what's the basis upon which it stands. And if what you believe
doesn't stand up to the scrutiny of this book right here, then
you need to cast it off and find out what it does is, what the
basis is. I'm forgotten as a dead man out
of mind. I'm like a broken vessel. I'm
forgotten as a dead man out of mind. You know, people, when
somebody dies, I don't care how close you are to them, how much
you love them or whatever. There will be a period of time
when somebody dies and you will think about them all the time.
But then as time goes on, you begin to think about them less
and less. Is that not true? I mean, it is unfortunate But
that's just about how much, you know, that's just really the
way it is. That's just the way of man. And that's what he says
here. I'm forgotten as a dead man out
of myself. They've already forgotten me.
I'm living among them, and I'm just like I died six years ago,
and they don't even think about me. See, those that love Christ,
they can't help but think about Him. He is a reality, is He not? I'm like a broken vessel, I'm
of no use. Now he's speaking here as a man,
as a man of sorrows, remember that. He was a man of great grief. I'm like a broken vessel, I'm
like a vase that was put up here on the shelf and broken. And
it's of no use. For I have heard the slander
of many. Fear was on every side while
they took counsel together against me. They devised to take away
my life. Now Christ on the one hand knew
that no one could take His life. He had the power to lay it down,
the power to take it up. He knew that. But yet as a man
walking among men, there was a measure in which He could identify
with the fear of what men could do. Now the scripture says, I
will not fear what men shall do unto me. And he perfectly
had that, but yet as a man in weakness. Now see, everything,
every weakness of man is not sin per se. I mean, we are weak
in the flesh, are we not? I mean, the disciples couldn't
pray with the Lord even for one hour. He didn't say, you great
sinners. He said, the Spirit is willing,
but the flesh is weak. I mean, we are weak. I don't
care how spiritual you may be, how much desirous of doing the
Lord's will that you are, you are weak in the flesh. And in
that weakness, you will fail. in all things. Christ never failed,
but yet He was acquainted with the weakness of the flesh. So
much so, and I've pointed this out before, that the angels came
and ministered to Him on three different occasions when He was
in a state of great weakness. And so that's what He says here.
I have heard the slander of many. Fear was on every hill while
they took counsel against me. They devised to take away my
life. I mean, the Pharisees, that was their business, was
it not? From the beginning of His ministry to the end of it,
they were desirous of taking away His life. On at least two
occasions I know of, they would have cast Him to His destruction. They desired to destroy Him,
but they couldn't. He walked out right through the
midst of them. But I trusted in Thee, O Lord. I said, Thou art my God. That
was His trust. That was His confidence. He trusted
in the Lord. whatever men should do to him,
my times are in thy hand. Deliver me from the hand of mine
enemies and from them that persecute me." Now, the Lord believed in
the absolute sovereignty of God, did He not? He believed that
God predestined the days of a man. He said, My times are in thy
hand. Thou hast set abounds upon them. I mean, at the appointed time,
dear brethren, we, We'll lay down this life. Our times are
in His hands. Now that doesn't just mean that
that time, you hear a lot of people talk about, well, it just
wasn't His time. You know, everybody, you've all
heard that thing, and people talk about, well, you know, it
wasn't His time yet. Well, it's not speaking about
specifically about that time, although that is one of the times
that is in the hand of the Lord, but it's speaking about all of
our times are in His hands. That is the day when we got up
this morning and we brushed our teeth, we combed our hair. Our times are in His hands. He
is marking out the steps that we take there, Brethren, according
to the good pleasures of the will. Now that just baffles the
minds of some people and they think that is just a strange
thing. Well, let me ask you this. Would
you rather that these things be randomly occurring? I mean,
how could things randomly occur and yet all coordinate to the
precise things that God would have them to be, except that
He orders all things according to the good pleasure of His will?
I mean, He says He does that in the Scripture. He plainly
says it in the book of Isaiah, and so why should we doubt it?
Why should men fight against it? You know why men fight against
it? Because it is the same reason
that Eve was deceived and Adam willingly took that fruit in
the garden, because men do not want God to rule over them. That is what David said. Man
has said in his heart, there is no God. The fool has said
in his heart, there is no God. Now what is he really saying?
There is no God for me. Well, it's okay to have a God,
but I mean, you know, you just don't want a God that's going
to have control over you. It's alright to have a God, you
know, that you can put up on a shelf somewhere, or you can
put in a little bottle like a genie, and whenever you get in trouble
and you need to pray, and you can start rubbing that bottle,
and you can call up your neighbor and say, go rub your genie bottle,
and let's see if we can get God to come out here and help us.
I mean, that's kind of like people think, is it not? But our times
are in His hands. He has ordered these things.
Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, from them that persecute
me. Make thy face to shine upon thy servants. Save me for thy
mercy's sake. Oh, for thy mercy's sake. That's what He revealed to Moses,
was it not? He said, I will show mercy to
whom I will show mercy. That's the nature of God, is
to show mercy. He said, I'll show mercy to whom
I will. I'm glad of that. What if He
said, I won't show mercy to anybody? I mean, what could anybody say?
If God had made the decree, I will never show mercy to anybody,
what could anybody say? I mean, could anybody be mad
at Him? Not really. I mean, He made the world according
to how it would be. You can't be mad at God. Because
He is God. Now if He is like you, you can
be mad at Him because you could get Him to do anything you want
Him to do. But you see, He is unofferable. He is an absolute
God. Make thy face to shine upon thy
servant. Save me for thy mercy's sake. Is that not the desire of God's
people? Is to be delivered? to have the
face of the Lord. We sang about that in a couple
of those songs there a moment ago. Come Holy Spirit, heavenly
dove, let Thy bright beams arise. I mean, do we not desire for
the Lord to shine upon us and open our eyes to see and grasp
the things of God? Let me not be ashamed, O Lord,
for I have called upon Thee. Let the wicked be ashamed and
let them be silent in the grave. Now there is no praise of God
in the grave. The grave is a bleak and terrible
place. And dear brethren, if we had
no hope beyond the grave, we would have, as Paul said, be
a most miserable people if the dead rise not. Now, because we
would have no hope that we would be raised from the dead, because
if the dead rise not, then Christ would not be raised. If there
was no such thing as the resurrection of the dead, but we know that
there is. And consequently, that gives us hope and reason to believe
that He shall yet raise that which is His, which He purchased
with His own blood. Because you see, He came to redeem
that which is His. And if you redeem something,
you get it. I remember my mother, she used
to collect S&H green stamps, and whenever she'd get enough
of them, saved up, had them books ready, and she'd look in the
catalog and see something she wanted, and she went to the place
over in Jacksonville, or you could do it by mail, but she'd
go to the place sometimes, and it was what was it called? It
was called a redemption center. It was a place where you could
turn those things in and you got what those stamps would purchase
for you. Jesus Christ has redeemed His
people. Now, if you went in there and
somebody, one of the people behind the counter took one of those
books and threw it in the trash and said, well, you know, this
won't do any good here. Because, you know, the things that's on the shelf here,
this waffle iron, it decided that it didn't want to be removed. How foolish would that be? And
how foolish is it to think that a man could cause God to redeem
him or keep him from it? Is that not a foolish thing?
I think it's a foolish thing. But I think it's a glorious thing
that Christ has magnified the glory of His grace in redeeming
sinners. because He could have bypassed
us all. He could have left us to our
own destruction which we markedly deserved. And see, a man that
doesn't believe he deserves destruction doesn't know who he is. He doesn't
see a sin for what it is. But He said, let me not be ashamed,
O Lord, for I have called upon Thee. Let the wicked be ashamed
and let them be silent in the grave. Let that be their end. Let that be their finality. Let that be the only thing that
they have. Let them be found there in darkness. Let the lying lips be put to
silence, which speak grievous things proudly and contentiously
against the righteous. The Lord does indeed put out
all of those that would condemned people of God. There is no condemnation,
therefore, to those who are in Christ. Why? Because they are
in Christ. And nothing can reach them. The law can say, well, he didn't
keep the law. And the law is right. But you
see, the law is wrong at the same time because the law doesn't
realize, oh, wait a minute, There he is. He is a law keeper. How
is he a law keeper? Because Christ stood in his room
and said, and he kept the law in his behalf. Let the lying lips be put in
silence which speak grievous things proudly and contentiously
against the righteous. They will do that. Oh, how great
is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee,
which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee. before the
sons of men." Now, dear brethren, how can the people of God be
known in the earth? They cannot climb up to heaven
and look in the Lamb's Book of Life and read their names on
the roll, can they? I mean, they are not meant to
do that. But what they say here, Oh, how
great is our goodness which has laid up for them that fear thee.
How can a man fear the Lord except the Lord work that work in him
and cause him to fear Him? Which, therefore, I wrote for
them that trust in thee before the sons of men. Can you trust
in the Lord now? No. Not by yourself. You cannot
trust the Lord. I remember when Caleb was a little boy, I'd get
by the side of the swimming pool and I'd say, you know, jump to
me. And I could tell he wanted to,
you know, but he just couldn't quite bring himself up. Now see,
he didn't trust, did he? But there came a day whenever
he did and he just cast himself off in there. Now he had to come
to a conclusion in his mind that I wasn't going to let him go
in that water, did he not? And that's what the work of the
Spirit of God is in the people of God, to cause them to trust
Him, to cast themselves upon Him. I mean, to burn all other
bridges. See, a lot of people want to
hold on to Christ and hold on to something else. They want
to hold on to Christ, but yet they want to say, well, you know,
I'm going to do these things here and it's going to enhance
my reward in heaven. Or, people are going to get what
they deserve. Have you ever heard that? Brother,
you better pray that you don't get what you deserve. I mean,
you better pray that the Lord doesn't reward you on the basis
of your faithfulness. You are going to be in a deep
debt, but oh, to be rewarded on the basis of Christ's faithfulness.
You see, that is the hope of God's people. That is the place
where they desire to be. Oh, how great is thy goodness
which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee. It's laid up.
It's like an inheritance. It's like that which is given
to men, laid up by the Father, which thou hast wrought for them
that did trust in thee. He worked it. See, Christ has
not only laid up treasures in heaven for us, but He has wrought
in us. a desire. He has given us a heavenly
treasure which is within us which causes us to cry, Abba, Father. He sent the Spirit of the Son
into our hearts crying, Abba, Father. Thou shalt hide them
in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man. Thou shalt
keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. It
does not matter what men shall say against those things. that He has called us to trust
in. He's hidden us in a secret pavilion. We're in that pavilion
with Christ. And if we're in that pavilion
with Christ in a secret place, where else would we desire to
be? I mean, what can somebody come along with that's going
to tell us something better than what He has already shown us?
He's hidden us in a secret place, a secret pavilion. Blessed be
the Lord, for He has showed me His marvelous kindness in a strong
city." He has revealed it to us, dear brethren. You see, that
is what the Gospel is sent into the world to do, is to tell us
of that which He has done, and to show us, the people of God,
to give us a place when we might rejoice and have comfort. He
said, I will not always be with you, but He said, I will send
My Spirit to comfort you. And that's what the work of the
Spirit of God is in the people of God, is to give them faith,
grace to believe. Everybody doesn't have it. A
man can't get it. On his own? I mean, it's a gift
of God. But oh, what a glorious gift
it is. Blessed be the Lord, for He hath shown me His marvelous
kindness in a strong city. For I said in my haste... Now
this is the flesh, the weakness of the flesh. For I said in my
haste, I am cut off from before Thine eyes. Nevertheless, Thou
heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto Thee. Don't
you think about this for a minute. Just think of Christ as a man
in the flesh, hanging on Calvary's cross, and He said, My God, My
God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? Now, listen to what I'm telling
you. Now, it is in reality true that
there was one time in history when the Lord turned His back
on an absolutely righteous man. And that was then. But keep this
in mind as well, that there was, at that same time, He was judged
for sin. And so in the weakness of the
flesh, I believe, even though it was an absolute reality, but
in the weakness of the flesh, Christ said, My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Now was that not prophesied in
the Scripture? But yet the Lord did not cast
him off, did he? How do we know that? Because
on the third day he arose from the grave. And so it is true
that he was forsaken of God, but yet he was not ultimately
forsaken of God. He was forsaken of God for a
season. Now, we would not survive that. You see, if a man is forsaken
of God even for a moment, he would perish because he does
not have the power to recover from that. And there are those who shall
be forsaken of God. Those to whom this end is appointed
according to what Scripture says. They shall be forsaken. What
an awful thing to be forsaken of God. But the people of God are not
forsaken. And He said this, For I said
in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes, and it was
true. Nevertheless, thou heardest the voice of my supplications
when I cried unto thee. Because you see, the mercy of
God was yet unto His Son, was it
not? And the Lord, even though His
justice demanded, He turned from His Son's face. They had looked
not upon sin. Yet at the same time, He loved
His Son because He sent His Son into the world to accomplish
exactly what He set out to do, and His Son did exactly what
He set out to do, did He not? I mean, have you ever thought
about this, that Christ was, you know, talk about being between
a rock and a hard place? The one thing Christ wanted to
do more than anything else was please His Father. But yet the
only way that He could please His Father was to become displeasing. in His Father's sight by becoming
sin for His people. Now that's a conundrum, is it
not? And the wise and the prudent, they laugh at such things as
that, and they say, well, see how foolish that is to even think
that man could reason such a thing. Man can't reason such a thing.
We don't believe that because we can reason it out. We believe
it because He told us that that's the way it was. He's given us
a heart to believe it. For I said in my haste, I am
cut off. Nevertheless, thou heardest the voice of my supplications
when I cried unto thee. O love the Lord, all ye His saints,
for the Lord preserveth the faithful." Did He not preserve the faithful?
Well, sure He did, because on the third day the faithful arose
from the grave. And just as at the appointed
hour all of those who were found faithful in Christ That is, those
whose faithfulness is seen as being the faithfulness of Christ,
they shall rise as well. And he plentifully rewarded the
proud doer. Now that's a contrast. The proud
doer. There are plenty of those, isn't
there? The Lord is going to plentifully reward the proud doer. You see,
the man, just like the Pharisee who went into the temple and
he prayed, what does the Scripture say? thus with himself." Now,
the Pharisee got what he wanted, did he not? He got exactly what
he wanted. He wanted to pat on the back.
Lord, you know, I'm not like this publican. No, he wasn't.
He was an upright man, but he didn't go down to his house justified.
He went down to his house with a pat on the back, and he felt
good about himself, but he certainly was not justified. The old publican,
on the other hand, He couldn't do anything but just
say, Go God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And he went down to
his house justified. Now that's a glorious thing. The Lord is going to give to
all men exactly what they desire. If a man wants to be seen as
a religious man, that's what he's going to be seen as. But
if a man, by the grace of God, in the humility of his heart,
falls before the Lord seeking mercy, As the Lord works in him,
both the willing to do of his good pleasure, then that man
shall receive that thing which he desires. It's going to happen. It can't be any other way. Be of good courage, and he shall
strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord. Now, he didn't say be of good
courage. You hear a lot of that today.
You need to have faith. You need to be of good courage. You need to be strong. He didn't
say that, did He? Because He put a modifier on
it. He said, Be of good courage,
and He shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the
Lord. Because you see, the hope of
God's people in the Lord is the basis upon which the blessing
of God is ministered unto them. He has given us hope. We are
saved by hope. And when we consider the hope
that we have, is that not a thing that strengthens our heart? I
mean, are we not encouraged? When we see Christ high and lifted
up and exalted as that One who is the King of kings and the
Lord of lords, the Master and Ruler over all things, are we
not made strong? Well, sure we are. You see, it
is only as a man hopes in the Lord that he can be of good courage.
The Lord will strengthen his heart because he trusts.