Our dear brother Scott Richardson,
who's now gone home to be with the Lord, used to have a saying.
He had many sayings, and they were wonderful. But he had a
saying that really strikes home for believers. He said, the believer
in Christ is either in trouble, coming out of trouble, or going
into trouble. Now is that not true? That's
so true, right? And you know what, in this world
is the only time we will have tribulation. We will never face
any kind of tribulation. This is the great tribulation,
this life. We will never face trials in heaven. We will never
sorrow in heaven. There be no sadness in heaven.
There be no tears shed in heaven. We'll have joy unspeakable. We get to see the Savior as we
see one another, face to face. Right now we look through a glass
darkly, but then face to face, beloved. But while we're in this
earth, while we're on this earth, we have some trying times. And do you know that every one
of those things is ordained by God? Zane and I were talking
this week, and he brought something up that I felt like I needed
to mention. He said that, and Henry Mann
had said it, right? Was Henry that said it? Yeah.
That we lay hold of the promises of God, right? But the workings
of providence, we don't always lay a hold upon them. Everything
that happens to us, it happens to us according to God's perfect
plan. And as that article in the bulletin
says, it'll all end in mercy. We'll be home one day, where
we'll never have any of these trials and tribulations again.
Never, never. It'll be wonderful, won't it?
Wonderful. Let's turn to Psalm 73. We're going to read the whole
psalm. We're going to read the whole
psalm. Now, this is a psalm written by Asp. Most of the psalms are written
by David, but a few are written by Asp. Here's some things that he's
writing down by inspiration of the Holy Spirit
of God. And let us consider these things today. Psalm 73. Truly God is good to Israel. Now we, who are God's people,
we know that's true, don't we? Even to such as are of a clean
heart. Excuse me. That means pure heart. And the
only way we have a clean heart is in Christ. But as for me,
my feet were almost gone. My steps had went out, but I
slipped. For I was envious at the foolish
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked." A lot of people
in this world prospering, right? The wicked just seem to prosper,
don't they? They just seem to prosper. Well, God's people,
we go through things and suffer through things, but the wicked
just seem to prosper. For there are no bands in their
death, but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble
as other men, neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore
pride compasses them about as a chain. Violence covers them
as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness. They have more than heart could
wish, and yet they still want more. They are corrupt and speak wickedly
concerning oppression. They speak lofty, full of pride.
They set their mouths against the heavens. They speak against
Christ. They speak against God. And their tongue walketh through
the earth. Therefore his people return hither, and waters of
a full cup are wrung out to them. And they say, How doth God know? And is their knowledge in the
most high? God doesn't know everything,
does he? That's what they're saying. He's not all-knowing.
He's some imaginary guy. That's all he is. Oh, my. Thank you. He's just some imaginary. No, he's not. He's real. David
said, my God is in the heavens, and he does whatever he pleases.
Doesn't he do whatever he pleases? He does, doesn't he? He does,
beloved. Oh, my. Behold, these are the ungodly
who prosper in the world. They increase in riches. They're
always at ease. They're always at ease. Verily,
I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocency.
For all the day long have I been plagued and chastened every morning. He's going through some stuff,
isn't he? If I say I will speak thus, behold, I shall offend
against the generation of thy children. When I thought to know
this, it was too painful for me. Now look at this. Until I
went into the sanctuary of God, until I came into the church
of God, then I understood their end. The only joy an unbeliever will
have is in this world. The only happiness an unbeliever
will have is in this world. My oh my. So I went in, and I
heard the scriptures read, and I knew their end. They're going to perish in their
sins and go to hell. My, oh my. Unless they repent,
right? Unless the Lord does a mighty
work in them. Oh my. Surely thou didst set
them in slippery places. Now he doesn't rejoice over that,
does he? No. It humbles him. Look what he
says. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places. Thou cast
them down into destruction. And you know that? If it wasn't
for the mercy of God, that'd have been us. My, oh, my. That'd be nice. How they are bought into desolation
as in the moment, just like that. As soon as they breathe their
last breath, they're bought into desolation. Oh, my. Oh, my. They are utterly consumed
with terrors. As a dream, when one awaketh,
so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image. Thus my heart was grieved, and
I was pricked in my reins." He was convicted. Here he was envious
and jealous of the wicked, and now his heart's pricked. He knows
their end now. He's grieving for how he was
before the Lord. my So foolish was I enigma I
Was as a beast before thee nevertheless. I am continually with thee that
was holding me by my right hand look at that It's not us holding
on to the Lord. It's the whole him holding on
to us beloved That's what it is Thou shalt guide me with thy
counsel, and afterwards receive me to glory. Look at that. All
through our life. He's going to guide us and direct
us, beloved. The steps of a good man, and that's only in Christ,
are ordered by the Lord. He's going to guide us right
through this world. My oh my. And then he's going to receive
us up to glory. Now this has become true for
us, right? He's in glory right now. He's rejoicing. Who am I in heaven? Now, here's
a question for us. Whom am I in heaven but thee? See, I remember Henry saying
one time, he said, people say, well when I get to heaven, I'm
going to get to see this person, this person. What he's bringing forth
here is when we get to heaven, we're going to be in awe of Christ. Who am I in heaven but you? My now now we brothers and sisters
work. We'll be there together, and
that'll be wonderful, but I'll tell you what our focus will
be Christ Who do we have in heaven, but him? All right oh And there
is none upon the earth that I desire beside thee. He's the desire
of our heart indeed He's the fairest of 10,000 to our souls. It's amazing I My flesh and my heart faileth,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
What a verse. We fail. We're so weak, aren't
we? But He's strong, beloved. In our weakness, what? He is
strong. My. He's so gracious, as Sister
Linda sang about. He's so wonderful. He's redeemed
us, beloved, by His precious blood. He's redeemed us from
the curse of the law. It's wonderful. Oh, it's absolutely
wonderful. And he's our portion forever.
For lo, they that are far from thee shall perish. Thou hast
destroyed all them that go a-whoring from thee. Now, that's a pretty somber verse,
isn't it? All who reject Christ. All of
them. All say, well, I can get to heaven
by my own works. Or people who just hate God in
general. They're all lumped in together.
Oh, my. But look at this. Look what he
says. But it is good for me to draw near to God. I put my trust
in the Lord God that I may declare all my works. It's good for us
to trust God. And not man. I've noticed something, and perhaps
you have too, that the news is full of fear.
This world itself, not just the news, this world is full of fear. They're afraid of what's going
to happen to the earth. They're afraid of this, they're
afraid of that. that there's going to be a shortage
of food, that there's going to be all this. But you know what?
You know what they're not afraid of? They have no fear for their
souls, do they? Isn't that amazing? All this
fear. Scripture says God has not given
us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
How do we have a sound mind? By looking to Christ. By looking
to Him alone. By trusting. It's good for us
to trust the Lord. It's good for us just to look
to Him, because this world, this world is so full of fear, and
yet they have no care for their soul. They're more afraid, they're
more afraid of a famine, they're more afraid of something horrible
happening in this world, than when they breathe their last
breath and step into eternity. And you know what? We were there.
But for the grace of God, You know who made us to differ? God
and God alone. God and God alone. He's the only
one who's made us to differ. He's the only one. I'm going
to show you something that I taught in Sunday school or Wednesday
night. Let me show you this here. John chapter 17. We're going
to do a little looking here. John 17. And we'll see here. The only one
who's made you and I to differ from the wicked is Christ and
Christ alone. John 17, we looked at verse 25. Look at this. Now there's two parties mentioned
in this verse. There's two parties mentioned
in this verse. Let's read this verse. The righteous father,
the world, there's the world, there's the first party, hath
not known thee, but I have known thee. And here's the second party,
that's God's elect. And these have known that thou
hast sent me. Do you notice that? Two parties, right? Who's in
the middle? Who's in between these two parties?
Let's read this verse again. O righteous Father, the world
hath not known thee, but I have known thee. There's Christ, right? And these have no one that thou
hast sent me. The only one who has made us
to differ from the world, right there, is Jesus Christ our Lord. Now turn to John chapter 19.
John chapter 19. John chapter 19. Okay. And then look at verse, we'll
start in verse 17. And he bearing his cross went
forth into a place called the place of the skull, which is
called in the Hebrew, Golgotha. Now there was two thieves, right?
Two thieves were crucified with him, right? One was the Lord's,
we know, and one was of the world. But notice who's in the midst.
where they crucified him and the other two with him on either
side, and Jesus in the midst. Who made those things to differ?
Christ and Christ alone. One looked to Christ and was
saved, the other one perished in his sins. Now let's go to
Numbers. Numbers chapter 16. This is why it's good for us
to trust in the Lord, beloved. Numbers chapter 16. Oh my, this is the chapter about
when the Lord has the ground open up. He has the ground open up, and
Korah and his rebels are swallowed up. And then what happens the
very next day, the very next day, the whole congregation of
Israel comes up to Moses and Aaron and says, you killed the
Lord's men. And the Lord says, stand aside.
I'm going to wipe them out. I'm going to wipe them out. But he wouldn't wipe them all
out because Judah's in there. And who springs out of Judah?
The Lion of the tribe of Judah. Right? Christ. Christ. Look at
this. Look at verse 42. And it came
to pass, when the congregation was gathered against Moses and
Aaron, verse 42, that they looked toward the tabernacle of the
congregation, and behold, the cloud covered it. And the glory
of the Lord appeared. Here, you don't mess with God's
men. And Moses and Aaron are God's men, right? Look at this.
And Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle of the congregation,
and the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Get you up from among
this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment.
Just like that. Take them all out. And they fell
upon their faces. Now here's Here's a picture of
Christ. And Moses said unto Aaron, take
a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on
incense, and go quickly into the congregation, and make an
atonement for them. Brother Norma's saying that they
had just done the sacrifice. And so that stuff was all warm
still. For there is wrath gone out from
the Lord. The plague has begun. Now notice
where Aaron goes. This is what I want to bring
forth here. And Aaron took as Moses commanded and ran into
the midst of the congregation. There it is again, isn't it?
Jesus in the midst. It's a picture. And behold, the
plague was begun among the people. And he put on incense and made
an atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead
and the living. Look at that. There it is. John
17, right there. The world and the living, God's
people. He stood between them. Even at
the cross, he was between those two, right? One was going to
perish in their sins, and the other one, he said, today thou
shalt be with me in paradise. It's good to trust the Lord,
isn't it? It's good to trust the Lord. Oh my, and he stood
between the dead and the living, and the plague was stayed. It's
only because of the blood. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
us from all sin. Now they that died in the plague
were 14,700 beside them that died about the matter of Korah. But look at that, and he stood
between the dead and the living, and the plague was stayed. The only one who made you and
I differ from everybody else in the world is Christ. And the wrath of God did not
fall upon us. Did not fall upon you and I,
beloved, and will never fall upon you and I. It's been stayed. It's been satisfied
by the sacrifice of Christ. Christ hath redeemed us. When did he do it? At Calvary's
cross. From the curse of the law being made a curse for us. My, it's so wonderful, beloved.
It's so wonderful. Now, Aspyr, he had learned. He learned something as we read
that psalm, right? We see that at first he's looking
at the wicked and going, oh my, look at them all. They're all
prospering. They seem to be growing more
and more in their wickedness. But he found out when he went
into the temple. He saw their end. He saw their end. You know it's good for us to
be afflicted? Now, we don't say that, do we? We don't say that. Dave's laughing because he just
had another round of COVID. We don't say that when we're
going through it, do we? Whenever we're going through
a situation, we don't say, well, that was good for me. No, we
don't. But afterwards, we can look and
go, it was good for me. It drew me closer to my king.
It showed me that he would never leave me nor forsake me. He was
there. He's the one who comforts me. He's, as asked, said, whom have
I in heaven but thee? Who do we have but him? We don't
have anyone but him. It's good for me to draw near
to God. When do we draw near to God? When we're afflicted,
when we're going through trials, when we're going through things,
when we're at ease. We tend to forget the things
of God. You know that? I'm speaking from
experience. We tend to be more like, okay,
well, everything's going great. And then when affliction comes,
who's the first person we cry out to? Our King. Our King. That's why Paul said
it's good for us to keep our mind on Christ at all times,
right? No matter whether we're going through affliction or not. And we hide God's Word in our
heart, don't we? Scripture says, thy word have
I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee. Scripture
also says, for unto you it is given on behalf of Christ, not
only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake. In Philippians
chapter 1, verse 29, Hebrews 12, 6 says, for whom the Lord
loveth, he chastens and scourges every son whom he receiveth.
We're going to go through trials. But let us remember this. Now,
I don't know if this is true for everyone, But when our parents disciplined us, sometimes it
was in anger. Sometimes, not all the time,
but sometimes it was. You know, God never disciplines
us in anger at all, ever, ever. Remember the refiner's fire?
Remember me telling you guys, do you remember the story about
the goldsmith? A fellow went in and visited
a goldsmith, and he says to the goldsmith, how do you know when
it's done? And the goldsmith says, when I see my reflection. He knows then the gold has been
refined. See, we're going through a refiner's fire, beloved. And
the Lord is the refiner. We're being conformed to the
image of Christ. We're stones being made ready. So we don't always think that
it's good for us to go through things, but it is good for us.
Because it does. It is good for me to draw near
to God. And we do that when we go through
afflictions. We do that, beloved. More so than any other time.
Trials reveal the reality of faith too, right? They reveal
the reality of faith. How can I know If I have faith
in the Lord, if it's never been tested. Every time a true believer in
the Bible was put to a severe test and trial, they came forth
from that trial trusting God. And we even see it here. Look
in Psalm 73 verse 28 again. It's good for me to draw near
to God. I put my trust in the Lord God. So he's writing about
all those things he's went through. How he's grieved at how he was
thinking. And he says it's good for me. It was good for me to
go through that. It was good for me. And he's
come, I have put my trust in the Lord, that I may declare
all my works his greatness, his redemption. What's his greatest
work? Redemption. Redemption of sinners
like you and I by his precious blood. That's his greatest work,
isn't it? He just spoke the world into existence. There it was. But he actually died for us on
Calvary's Cross. He lived on this earth for 33
years, despised and rejected by man. And he did all that for
you and I, beloved, as believers. Then he shed his precious blood
for us. And trials enable us to see also the frailty of our
flesh, don't they? How quickly something will happen,
and we find out we can't fix it. Because we're fixers, aren't
we? We humans are fixers. Especially
men. Especially men. Our wives will
be talking to us about something. They just want us to listen.
We want to fix it. And all they want to do is have
us listen. But see, we're fixers by nature. My, oh, my. So trials enable
us to see the frailty of our health, of our human flesh. It makes us long for Christ's
return, doesn't it? It makes us long for his return.
I was reading an old-timer, Thomas Goodwin, this week, an old preacher
from the 1600s. This guy lived through the Black
Plague and all that. And he made a comment. He said,
do you know Christ is as excited to return as we are? Who's he
coming back for? His bride. And he said, just a little bit.
It'll just be a little bit. Zane and I were talking about
this. One day is 1,000 years, right? Our lifetime is a millisecond
in that time. But it feels long enough, doesn't
it? Oh, my. Oh, my. So trials enable us to
see our frailty and makes us long for Christ's return. All flesh shall perish, and the
man shall turn again unto dust." We're all going to return to
dust. That's all we are is just dust.
Trials and afflictions also leave us looking at the grace of God
for our strength and for our health. We look to Christ during
trials, during tribulations, during sorrows. We look to Him. This is why, again, see now we're
seeing some of the fruit. of being afflicted, right? They
make us look to Christ. At the time we sure don't like
it, but we can look back and go, my, look what the Lord did.
He drew near to me. He comforted me. My, and he may
use his people. He may use a word of comfort
from his people. A lot of times, doesn't he speak to us through
his word? He speaks to us through his word,
doesn't he? He comforts our souls through his word, doesn't he?
That's how he speaks to us. Christ hath redeemed me. He's
actually redeemed my soul. Hallelujah. That speaks to my
soul. Does it speak to yours? How did
he do it? He gave his life, shed his blood
for me. Just mull that around and meditate
upon that for the whole week. Christ hath redeemed me from
the curse of the law. He's done it 2,000 years ago. I'll tell you what, your heart
will be singing by the end of the week. My oh my. Paul said this, he said that
the Lord said to him, my grace is sufficient for thee. Is it
not sufficient for us? Is not God's grace sufficient
for us? For my strength is made perfect in weakness. Paul learned
something, didn't he? He learned something. Most gladly,
therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power
of Christ may rest upon me. He's glorying in his infirmities.
There's a sister going through some stuff in this church here,
and I'll tell you what, what a testimony. Just clinging to the Lord. The
Lord giving her strength. given her strength during this
time. It's amazing. God has proven to be sufficient. My oh my. And God taught Paul two things.
He taught Paul that he was a frail man even after he had saved him,
right? He had a thorn in the flesh, didn't he? And trials
and afflictions enable us to sympathize and pray for and understand
the weakness and burdens of our dear brothers and sisters. Because
I'm weak. But he's strong. He's strong. No man can weep with others who's
not wept himself. No man can forgive unless they've
experienced forgiveness. No man can show mercy unless
he's received mercy from God. And God prepares his vessels
to minister to others. It's all his work. And how does
he prepare us? Through experience, and trials,
and tribulations in this world. Even things that happened before
we were even saved. Things we went through. Preparing
us. And we might be able to talk
to someone. I might be able to talk to someone that you wouldn't
talk to. You might be able to talk to someone that I wouldn't
normally get to talk to. All prepared by God. Isn't that wonderful? All those
things we go through, He redeems them. He redeems those things,
beloved. And trials and afflictions allow
us to see the sinfulness of our heart. And they allow us to rejoice
in the righteousness of Christ. We are so sinful. We can't be
in the presence of God. But yet the righteousness of
Christ being clothed in that perfect robe, right, that best
robe allows us to be in the presence of God. You remember that, remember
the wedding, wedding feast, and there was someone without, they
didn't have a garment on. That picture's a loss, man. They
didn't have a garment on. They had a garment of their own
works. And he was cast out into outer
darkness. My, oh my. Where there's no party,
there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. My oh my. Paul wrote this, O wretched man
that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
I thank God through Jesus Christ, so then with the mind I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. See
he had a civil war within him, didn't he beloved, just like
we have. See Paul, people make these Bible
characters like they're superheroes. They struggle just like you and
I. God used them in a mighty way. And we thank God for doing
that. But they struggled just like
Paul. You ever felt wretched about yourself? You ever felt
like, my Lord, I'm so sinful? You ever felt that way? You ever
said, why do I keep committing the same sin over and over and
over again? You ever said that? Oh, my. But we keep going to
Christ, don't we? We keep saying, oh, Father. Father
we plead the blood of Christ right and the blood of Christ
what cleanses us from all sin Even though we're forgiven we
still confess our sin don't we? See this is the people think
we're holier-than-thou we don't think we're holier-than-thou
not at all I Remember when the Lord saved me my dad. Oh now
you're holier-than-thou you're just holier-than-thou holy Or
whatever he said you're holier-than-thou I said I ain't no holy I said,
the only reason I'm holy is in Christ, but I'm just a sinner
saved by grace. You say the same thing, right?
The last thing we think of is that we're holier than thou. Now Paul wrote this in a Roman
prison in Philippians. He wrote this. He said, not that
I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever
state I am therewith to be content. No matter what state we're in,
we're to be content. No matter what our state is.
And God teaches us that, doesn't he? It takes a long time to get
through our skulls. But he teaches us that, doesn't
he? Do you remember when we were raising our kids? Tell them,
don't do something, what do they do? My mom told me, don't stick
a fork in the electrical socket. I did it once. And I learned to never do that
again. But don't we keep telling our kids when we're raising them,
don't do that. Don't do that. Don't do that. Oh, my. He says, I know both
how to be abased and I know how to abound everywhere in all things. I am instructed both to be full
and hungry, just to be content no matter where he was, both
to abound and to suffer need. So he's looking at the providence
of God and saying, whatever God brings is good. It's good. So he's learned a
lesson that it's good for us to be afflicted, because it draws
us near to Christ. And how do we learn? Only by
experience, right? Experience is the best teacher.
People go to school and learn all these things, but someone
who's maybe not went to school and been hired on a job and working
that same thing, they will be miles ahead of the person who
has all that theory and all that book work. Because we learn by experience,
that's how we are. We learn by experience. So afflictions
and trials help us to see our sinfulness, help us to see our
weakness, help us to see our inability to save ourselves.
And we are shut up, literally, to Christ. Literally to Him. And look at the last verse of
this psalm again. But it is good for me to draw near to God. I
have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy
works. Well, here's the second point
right here. It's good for us to learn to draw near to our
God. It's good for us. But it is good for me to draw
near to God. That's a good thing. How does
he do it? How do we do it? By his providence,
he has us go through things. And he draws us closer and closer
to him. We've trusted our eternal soul
on Him. We've hung our whole salvation upon Christ, haven't
we? We put all our eggs in one... God's put all the eggs of salvation
in one basket, didn't He? That's Christ. Right? He's the nail in the sure place. My oh my. And we see at the first
of the psalms, the start of this message, we look at verses 12
and 13. He says, behold, these are the
ungodly who prosper in the world. They increase in riches. Verily,
I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocence. So here's some. He's discovered that the ungodly
prosper in the world. And some discoveries made by
a new believer They come to know that all men do not rejoice in
your faith. You start telling people about
Christ, and you come to know that not all men rejoice, or
women rejoice, in your newfound faith in Christ, God-given faith. Scripture says, and a man's foe
shall be of his own household. How many of us have found that
out through the years? And then the new believer discovers
he's got a problem with sin. That our flesh still gives us
trouble. That our fleshy appetites and
sinful thoughts are not totally curbed, are they? And sometimes
our flesh gets the better of us. Now we've got a civil war,
as I say, within our body. Paul writes this, he says, This
I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the
lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the
Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. It's a war. And these
are contrary one to the other. The flesh wants to do this, and
the Spirit says no. We didn't have that trouble before
the Lord saved us, did we? Before we were born again by
the Holy Spirit of God. We didn't have that trouble at
all. and says they are contrary one
to another, so that you cannot do the things that you would.
Do you find that? Oh, my. But if you be led by
the Spirit and are not under the law. You ever have trouble
sleeping? Turn the audio Bible on. Right? And you'll be sleeping
about not very long. I'll tell you why. Your flesh
does not want that. It does not. My oh my. You ever been reading your Bible
and next thing you know you have your face in your Bible? My oh my. Or you be reading and
you go, I gotta read that over again because my mind just went,
whoo. Oh, the flesh, the flesh, the
flesh. My. And the believer, the new believer
in Christ discovers that Our prayers are not always answered
the way we think they should be. And as we grow in grace, we realize
and are thankful that God didn't always answer our prayers the
way we thought he should. Because we would have destroyed
ourselves. And another thing the new believer
discovers Because our spiritual growth seems to be slow. Slow. Do you know you'll never see
your own spiritual growth? Others will. But we'll never
see our own. If a person thinks, well, I know
all this stuff. I've got all this knowledge. I've got all
this stuff. You're looking at a self-righteous person. Because you know what? All that
I know, Since the Lord saved me, it's
just like a scratch, a little wee ball. I feel like a baby. You remember
our kids eating pavlon? Where was it? All over them.
That's how I feel. I'm just like a little baby,
just got all this stuff covered all over me. You know, right? We're just babes in Christ. Somebody once said, There was a church, and some
folks left the church. And those folks that left said,
well, we were the pillars of the church. You know what that's called?
Self-righteousness. God's the pillar of the church,
isn't he? This is God's church, isn't it?
This is not ours. The blessing of being is ours
in the sense that we're together. But this is God's church. This
is his work. And I'm looking at a bunch of
folks that God's done a work in. And I see a growth. But you won't see it in yourself.
You know why? Because we still feel like we're
the chief of sinners. My, oh my. My, oh my. Look at verses 12
to 24 in this psalm. Behold, these are the ungodly
who prosper in the world. They increase in riches. Verily,
I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocency.
For all the day long I've been plagued and chastened every morning.
If I say I will speak thus, behold, I shall offend against the generation
of thy children. When I thought to know this,
it was too painful for me. Until I went into the sanctuary
of God, then I understood their end." What a verse. Surely thou
didst set them in slippery places. Contrast thou to us who are on
the firm rock of salvation, which is Christ. Thou catchest them
down into destruction, and will never be destroyed. How they
are bought into desolation as in the moment. They are utterly
consumed with terrors. As a dream, when one awaketh,
so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.
Thus was my heart grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. So
foolish was I. So he's looking back and saying,
I was so foolish to be envious of them. I know their end. I
was so foolish to be envious of them. I was as a beast before
thee. Nevertheless, I am continually
with thee. Thou hast beholden me by my right
hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy
counsel. Receive me to glory. And then look at what Acts declares
in light of all that he said in the last verse again. But
it is good for me to draw near to God. I have put my trust in
the Lord God that I may declare all thy works. What do saints
of God do? Well, we draw close to God, don't
we? By God-given faith, we draw close
to God. Oh, my. My oh my. And there's only one way we can
approach God. That's through the mediator. That's through
the one who shed his precious blood to redeem us, to save our
souls. And his name is the Lord Jesus
Christ. Scripture declares this, for there is one God and one
mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave
himself a ransom for all. There's only one mediator. Contrary
to what man thinks, there's only one mediator. Contrast how how
we as God's people approach God through the throne of grace through
Christ right compared to most false religions The islamic says
well, you must read the quran and pray five times a day all
works and Then they say you must make a pilgrimage to Mecca Notice
they have to do something The Hindu says, observe the rules
of the caste system. Crawl through the dust of the
temple. Erect the shrine to one of the slew of different gods.
Then you may escape. You may escape reincarnation
as a snake or a bug. Again, something they have to
do. The Buddhist says, sit with your arms forward and forget
that you have a body and become indifferent to pain and pleasure.
All works. Their pain don't stop. My, oh
my. The father of Confucius says,
study the sacred classics and learn the rules of righteousness.
Do you know what they're saying? You must save yourself. Some religious groups say you
have to be baptized to be saved. You have to worship on Saturday
to be saved. You have to speak in tongues
to be saved. goes on, and on, and on, and on, and it's all
works. It's all works. It's all self-righteousness. And the gospel preacher stands
up and he proclaims that there's only one mediator between God
and man, the man Christ Jesus. There's only one mediator. There's
only one Savior. God is a spirit. And they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and truth. The woman
said unto them, I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ.
When he is come, he will teach us all, tell us all things. Jesus
said unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. He's the Messiah. He's the long-awaited Messiah.
And he spoke to the lady at the well. That was a quote from the
lady at the well, John chapter 4, verses 24 to 26. My, how do we draw near to God?
Well, we come to him as a sinner, don't we? Empty-handed. Nothing
in my hands I bring, right? Nothing at all. Nothing. God, he doesn't want nothing
from us. There's nothing we can offer.
What can we offer God for the redemption of our souls? Absolutely
nothing. Nothing from us. It's all Christ
and Christ alone. There's only one mediator between
God and man, the man in Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom
for all. All am I. Listen to this in Matthew 8,
1-3. When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes
followed him. All these people followed him,
right? Great multitudes. And behold, there came a leper
and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou will. If you will, Lord. You can make me clean. He came
with nothing, didn't he? He's not saying, well, tell me
what I have to do. This man's been taught something,
hasn't he? This is good ground. This ground's been furrowed and
dug up by the Holy Spirit of God. It's ready to receive the
seed. My, oh, my. He said, Lord, if
thou will, thou can make me clean. That's what he cried. And Jesus
put forth his hand, beloved. Oh, what mercy. Oh, what compassion,
our Savior. He is truly the wonderful, merciful
Savior. He stretched forth and put forth
his hand and touched him, saying, I will. Isn't those wonderful
words? I will be thou clean. That's what he did for you and
I, beloved. We're just like that orpher, aren't we? Leprosy is
a picture of sin. This man was full of leprosy.
The Lord said, I will. Words from God incarnate in the
flesh. I will. What's going to happen
when God in the flesh says, I will? Well, man, that man, he was white
as snow. He said, I will. Be thou clean. And immediately. Remember in
Sunday school I was saying about the curse being removed immediately?
All the healings of Christ are immediate healings? And immediately
his leprosy was what? Cleansed. It's gone. You can't
find a spot of leprosy in him again. What does that picture
of? And then he says to him, you
go to the priest and have him examine you. You know why? That's
the law examining him. And you know what? It finds nothing
in him. That's what we have in Christ,
beloved. The law comes, says, I have absolutely nothing in
the believer. Put your name in there. I have
nothing. The justice of God comes, says,
I've been satisfied. Because Christ has redeemed you. Oh, it's wonderful, beloved.
So how do we draw near to God? Well, there were certain Greeks
among them that came up to worship at the feast, and they came.
Therefore to Philip, who was of the city of Galilee, and desired
him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. We're going to ask you if we
can see him, but we don't really. We're not here to see you all.
We're not here to see the apostles. We're here to see Jesus. See,
and that's what the gospel preacher, we set Christ before our hearers,
don't we? But God's got to give you eyes to see Him. And that's
our prayer. That even if the message would
touch our hearts here today, and go forth on the internet,
and the Lord use it for His glory, whatever He wills. My oh my. That law had no claim on that.
Isn't that wonderful? Oh, it's just wonderful. And
we come as a servant, don't we? Now we're a servant of Christ. We don't seek positions. If God's
pleased to put someone in a position, that's God doing it. Right? And anyone put in position
properly, they will not reign authority over anyone else. We're
servants. That's like I told you guys that
I'm a servant of the church. Travis is a servant of the church.
Brian and Dan, they're servants as leaders. We're servants of
the church. We're not the Lord over anyone. We're servants.
And all of us are servants of Christ, every one of us. And
we serve Him here, and we're going to serve Him in glory,
beloved. He's our King. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ. That's our title, we're servants.
And brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the
Father and preserved in Christ Jesus and called, mercy unto
you, and peace and love be multiplied. Mercy to you, beloved, and peace
and love be multiplied. My, we are the most blessed people
in the world. Turn, if you would, to Psalm
150. How else do we draw? We're going to close in a minute.
How else do we draw near to God? Well, let's look at this psalm. My oh my, Psalm 150. This is just a wonderful psalm. Look at this. Praise ye the Lord. I've told
you before that that means hallelujah in the Hebrew. Hallelujah. Hallelujah! Ye the Lord. Praise God in His
sanctuary. Praise Him in the firmament of
His power. Praise Him for His mighty acts.
Has He not done mighty acts of saving our souls? Oh, He's done
mighty acts, hasn't He? Praise Him according to His excellent
greatness. There is no one greater than
our King. No one greater than Him. Praise Him with the sound
of the trumpet. Praise Him with the psaltery
and harp. Praise Him with the timbrel and dance. Praise Him
with the stringed instruments and organs. Praise Him upon the
loud cymbals. Praise Him upon the high sounding
cymbals. Here we go. I'm just going to wrap it all
up right here. Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Oh my beloved. Verse 6, verse
6 sums it right up right? Let everything that hath breath
praise the Lord. Everything. Praise ye the Lord. We draw near to God. We draw
near to God. We give Him all the praise and
glory. We marvel that He's made us accepted in the beloved and
we trust Him, don't we? Just like that, just like Psalm
73 said at the end of that psalm. Oh my. But it is good for me to draw
near to God. I have put my trust in the Lord,
that I may declare all his works. And we declare me, to the believer,
the most treasured work, redemption by his precious, precious blood.
He saved my soul. He saved my soul. And his love
has been set upon me. And you, beloved, just let us
rejoice in this from eternity. And the Father loves us as He
loves Christ. What a wonderful, merciful Savior
is Jesus Christ, our Lord.