This will be the last message
in this series. We've been going through 2 Samuel
chapter 22. The name of the message is The
Lord Liveth. The Lord Liveth. Let's start in verse 40 and we'll
read all the way down to 51. 2 Samuel chapter 22 verses 40
to 51. For thou hast girded me with
strength to battle them that rose up against me, hast thou
subdued under me. Thou hast also given me the necks
of mine enemies, that I might destroy them that hate me. They
looked, but there was none to save, even unto the Lord, but
he answered them not. Then did I beat them as small
as the dust of the earth, I did stamp them as the mire of the
street, and did spread them abroad. Thou also has delivered me from
the strivings of my people. Thou has kept me to be the head
of the heathen. The people which I knew not shall
serve me. Strangers shall submit themselves
unto me. As soon as they hear, they shall
be obedient unto me. Strangers shall fade away and
they shall be afraid out of their close places. And here, verses
47 to 51 will be our text. The Lord liveth. He lives. Scriptures declare he lives.
He lives. And blessed be my rock. And exalted
be the God of the rock of my salvation. It is God that avenges
me. and that bringeth down the people
under me, and that bringeth me forth from mine enemies. Thou
also hast lifted me up on high above them that rose up against
me. Thou hast delivered me from the violent man. Therefore I
will give thanks unto thee. Notice the thousandth of thee.
Exactly what we were talking about before, brother and sister.
Exactly what we were talking about. It's all Him. It's all
Him. It's all Him. And that he bringeth me forth
from mine enemies, thou hast also lifted me up on high above
them that rose up against me. And thou hast delivered me from
the violent man. Therefore, I will give thanks
unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen. And I will sing praise
unto thy name. He is the tower of my salvation,
for his king, and showeth mercy to his anointed, unto David,
and to his seed forevermore. Tonight we'll be looking at the
concluding verses of this wonderful song that David penned. The concluding verses and we'll
see how these verses are the key to all the rest of what David's
penned already. And David continues all the way
to the conclusion of this song to bring forth the divine mercies
of our great God. And all these mercies have been
manifested to Him, just as the mercies of God have been manifested
to we who are His people. All the blessings of God have
been manifested to us in the sense that all spiritual blessings
are in our Savior. They're all in Him. All in Him. Look what David brings forth
in verse 17, that it is the Lord and He alone who is His rock.
It's the Lord and He alone that is His salvation. The Lord liveth
and blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of the rock of my
salvation. Now keep an eye to Christ here.
Keep an eye to Christ, who alone is the mighty deliverer of His
people. And how this verse points to the redemptive work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. who has delivered us from all
our spiritual enemies, beloved. All. And only in Christ do we
have victory. Only in Him. Left to ourselves,
we are defeated. And hence the folly of books
that have been printed out, how to live a victorious Christian
life. Seminars, how to have victory. The only way we have victory,
beloved, is in Christ. That is it. That's the only place
we have victory over sin, over ourself, is in Christ and Him
alone. And that's why, again, like I
mentioned this morning, that's why we need to continuously hear
the gospel, because it takes our eyes off ourselves and looks
right to Christ, looks right to Christ, who we have victory
in, who we have victory in. We have it nowhere else. And
Christ alone, beloved, is the promised seed. Christ alone is
the promised seed. He's the anointed, the only anointed
of the Father. And He's full of grace and truth.
He's full of grace and truth. It is He who has made His people
willing in the day of His power It is He who is precious to the
believer. Is Christ precious to you? He's
more precious to me than anything in this world. Is it so with
you? Oh, it is, isn't it? He's so
precious to us. So precious. And God our Father has given
salvation unto Christ. His King. His King. And He hath given Him a name
that's above all names. And that's Christ. And it is
in Him alone that the Father will give blessings forevermore
to the people of His choosing. Only in Christ. Only in Christ. We see David in this first. He's
just given glory and honor to the Lord in me He's just given
glory and honor to the Lord He's praising our great God for the
for the mercies and for the grace, which he's received The Lord
liveth all praise God he lives because he lives I live If he didn't live I'd be in darkness
still and so would you believe? But praise God, he's risen, and
we're passing from death to life because of him. Because of what
he's done. Because of the mighty work of
our great God. And Jehovah liveth. That's our
God. He lives. Don't matter what people
say. Scripture declares this, and
this is the truth. The Lord liveth. And blessed be my rock. Is he
a rock? Oh, he is, isn't he? He's the
only rock we have. And exalted be the God of the
rock of my salvation. Again, David brings forth that
the Lord liveth. This brings forth that he has
life in himself. Life in himself, essentially,
originally, and independently. He's the giver of life. He's
the giver of life. And it is God and God alone who
is the fountain and author of life to all, all things, visible
and invisible. All creatures that have life.
He's the giver of natural life and the supporter of natural
life. He's the giver of spiritual life.
He's the giver of eternal life, which he gives to his people.
Freely. Based upon what Christ has done
for us. With nothing in us to marry it. All because we are the objects
of His eternal love. Chosen people of God. Not based
upon anything in us, but all based upon the mercy and grace
of God. What a God. What a Savior. And he alone is the living God. That's what David's bringing
forth here. He alone is the living God. All other gods that little
G's are just false dead idols. Gods of people's imagination.
But our God, he lives. He lives. He's the one true living
God. And David has given him all the
glory and all the honor and all the praise, isn't he? David continues,
and blessed be my rock. It's Christ who's the foundation
stone for the believer. He's the foundation stone of
all the elect. And we are fitly framed together,
beloved. Made up into a spiritual temple. But there's the foundation. There's
the solid ground. And we are a temple of His making.
His making, beloved. Listen to what Ephesians chapter
2 brings forth. Now therefore ye are no more
strangers and foreigners. Remember Paul's writing to the
Gentiles at Ephesus? He says you're no more Strangers
or foreigners remember there was a divide between the Jews
and the Greeks right so this is talking about how they're
now They're all one in Christ You're in take this to our hearts
blood you're no more therefore strangers and for foreigners
But fellow citizens with with the Saints and of the household
of God And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and
prophets Jesus Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone of
In whom all the building, that's us, remember stones made ready,
right? All the building fitly framed
together groweth into a holy temple in the Lord. In whom ye
are built together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit. And
I gotta add what Brother Henry said, and I love it, that the
mortar that holds those stones together is the blood of Christ.
Oh, it's wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. But we're
building fitly framed, chosen, human, while we're here on this
earth to fit right where we are supposed to fit. Wonderful, beloved. We are built up, established
in Christ. He's our rock. He's our rock. He's our place of refuge. He's
our defense. And it is he who supplies us
with all we need. There's no one like him. He's
El Shaddai. And no one likes him. No one
like him. He is God Almighty. And it is
he alone who is our rock. He alone who is our rock. He
alone who is our salvation. And we sing, don't we? We sing
as much as we can sing of the greatness and the goodness that
God has given us in and through Christ Jesus, our Lord, the grace
that has been shown us through Christ. And we seek to give him
all the glory, because he's the only one worthy of it. He's the
only one worthy of all the glory and honor and praise. Only Christ. Only Christ. Note at the latter
part of verse 7, David sings and prays that our great God
is the rock of my salvation. Our great God was David's salvation
in a temporal sense, as well as an eternal sense. Daily he was saved from many
enemies. I wonder if we're ever gonna
know how much the Lord delivered us from. That's all speculation,
but I wonder, you know, you just wonder. I can imagine daily,
he just delivered us from so many things, beloved, we don't
even, we don't even, you know, incredible. It's absolutely incredible. He delivers us from our enemies.
In a spiritual sense, he delivered David from all his enemies, and
we who are his people, because he's the author and the finisher
and the applier of eternal salvation. Don't forget that. He's the author,
he's the finisher, and he's the applier. He's everything to us. He's everything
to us. And it all comes to us in and
through Christ Jesus our Lord. We who are the born-again, blood-washed
people of God. And our great God is all of our
salvation. He's all our salvation. And He
is the Most High God, the High and Lofty One. The High and Lofty
One. The One who inhabits eternity. We don't understand that because
we're locked in time. He has no constraints. He inhabits
eternity. He inhabits eternity, beloved. Oh, what a great God our God
is. And He's above all others. He's the exalted one. And it
is He who is the rock of our salvation. Just think of that. The one who inhabits eternity
in the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And
the word was God, and all things were made by him. And without
him, nothing was made without him. And then the scripture declares
the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Now here's the mystery,
isn't it? The one who inhabits eternity, the great I am, becomes
a man. For one reason. to save His people
from their sins. Oh, what a Savior. What a Savior. Great is the mystery of God,
that Christ became a man. God was incarnated in the flesh,
the Scripture declares. Something that we can't totally
fathom, can we? But we believe it, because the
Word says it, and because the Holy Spirit has taught us In
the scripture, revealed to us that Christ is real, that he's
God, that he's God. Oh my. Look at verse 48. It is God that avengeth me, and
that bringeth down the people under me. Our great God avenges his people. Scripture says, vengeance is
mine, saith the Lord. Turn, if you would, to Romans
chapter 12. God repays it for and behalf
of his people. Private revenge is not to be
exercised by the believer, by any of God's people. And we see here in Romans chapter
12, why? The scripture proclaims he will
repay. Remember what we looked at today too? He's the head and
we're the body. Remember how we looked at that?
And the Lord said, as much as you did this to the people He
cast into everlasting fire, He says, as much as you did it to
them, you did it to me. Look at this in Romans chapter
12. Listen to this exhortation by Paul to the saints of God
in Rome. Verse 14 to 18. Bless them which
persecute you. Well, that's the opposite of
what the world tells you, isn't it? The world tells you, get even. Scripture
tells you, bless them which persecute you. Bless and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice
and weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind, one toward
another. Mind not high things, but condescend
to men of low estate. Don't make yourself better than
anyone else, because we're not. We're all the same. Be not wise
in your own conceits. Here we go. Recompense to no
man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the
sight of all men, if it be possible, as much as liveth in you. Live
peaceably with all men. Now take note, Paul's bringing
forth here in the next few verses, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit
of God, he brings forth that That which may cause the most
unrest for the people of God, we're not to take vengeance.
We're not to take vengeance. To get even or to strike back
is in the natural man, and it's in our flesh. We know it is. But the scripture
brings forth, give place to wrath. Which means do not brood over
it. Don't brood over it don't brood
over misunderstandings Because if you brood over things I'm
telling you yeah, it's gonna turn you off So this is instruction for us
as believers don't brood over it don't brood over it Don't don't don't let the wrath
within you burn Kill it let it die Because God settles all accounts. God settles all accounts. Your
anger will never win the heart of a foe. Your anger will never win the
heart of a foe, but your kindness may reach their heart and their
conscience. Do not let evil men and evil thoughts dictate your
course of action. We're not to be like the world.
Don't be blinded by anger or wrath, and that's what happens.
We can get blinded by anger. We're susceptible to everything
the world is susceptible to. But the scripture says here,
don't be blinded by anger or wrath. Don't let hatred and hard
feelings get the better of your Christian principles. And do
not let evil revenge displace the divine light of forgiveness.
I'll tell you what, it's easy to forgive people. when you stop
and you consider how much you've been forgiven in Christ. It really is. It really is. I remember what Henry Mahan said
one time, he said, if you're having a hard time with someone,
pray for them. Because pretty soon, and I'm
talking if it's your brother and sister too, and we can pray
for other folks, but pray for them because pretty soon, your
heart will be overflowing for them. Especially if it's your
brother and sister in Christ, because we love each other. We're
sinners, saved by the grace of God in Christ. And look what
Paul writes here in verses 19 to 21. He says, dearly beloved,
and remember, divinely loved ones, avenge not yourselves. Don't avenge yourselves, but
rather give place unto wrath. That means don't brood over it.
For it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord.
And he does. He does. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger,
feed him. If he thirst, give him drink. For in so doing, thou
shalt cause a fire on his head. Again, it's the opposite of what
the world says. Be not overcome of evil, but
overcome evil with good. See, this instruction's in here
because we're susceptible to these things. And so, again, the scripture
tells us to do the opposite of what the world would say. Because
we're new creatures in Christ. And we look to our king, don't
we? We look to our king. The world would say, I'm gonna
get back at them for that. But we who believe are commanded
not to avenge ourselves. Not to avenge ourselves. And
look at verse 48. Let's go back to 2 Samuel in
light of what we read there in Romans. Look at verse 48. Knowing that it's the Lord who
avenges us. Let's read that verse again. It is God that avenges
me. It's God that does that. and
that bringeth down the people under me. God does this. Think of this in David's life.
The Lord hath subdued the Edomites, the Moabites, and many other
nations, all under David, but all by the power of God. And
we know that David ascribed all his victories to God. He was a military genius, it
sounds like, or he was a great warrior. But we saw in this,
as we studied this song, that even for all that he could do
as a military man, he gave God all the glory. He gave him all
the glory. Now let's consider verse 49.
The scripture says, And that bringeth me forth from mine enemies,
Thou also hast lifted me up on high above them that rose up
against me. Thou hast delivered me from the
violent man. We know from Scripture that David
was delivered from Saul and his men, from Absalom and the conspirators
with him. So all believers are delivered
out of the hands of our enemies by Christ. It's Christ who delivers
us. And we serve the Lord without
fear, don't we? We serve Him without fear. Our
blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, was and is Himself, has
been delivered from all His enemies. He reigns on high right now,
far above all His enemies. And He sat at the right hand
of God where He must reign till all His enemies are made His
footstool. David was lifted up from a low
estate. He was a shepherd boy. He was
lifted up from that low estate, wasn't he? Placed to the throne
of Israel. Above all those that rose against
him, that sought to destroy him. God protected him. And watched
over him. And kept him. So for everyone
who believes. The Lord does that for us. And our King, our Lord right
now, is highly exalted. He's at the right hand of God
right now. Right now. Far above all principality and
power and might and dominion, and far above every name that
is named, our Lord is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Look at verse 50 now. Look at
this verse. Therefore I will give thanks
unto thee, O Lord, After all the stuff he's written
earlier, he's going to give thanks because he's ascribed all the
glory to our great God. Oh, look at that. It's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. Therefore
will I give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and
I will sing praises unto thy name. In Psalm 18.49, the Scripture
declares, Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among
the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name." Now turn, if
you would, to Romans chapter 15. These words are quoted by
the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 15, the ones in Psalm 18.49,
which says, Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among
the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name. Very similar to
the verse that we see 2nd Samuel 22 50 which says therefore I
will give thanks unto thee O Lord among the heathen and I will
sing praises unto thy name look here in Romans chapter 15 Paul sets here before us that
the hope of all the elect both Jew and Gentile is Christ is
Christ in him alone Look at this in Romans 15, verses 8 to 13. Now I say that Jesus Christ was
a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm
the promises made unto the fathers, and that the Gentiles might glorify
God for His mercy. As it is written, for this cause
I will confess thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name. I'll read our verse that we're
looking at. Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among
the heathen. What are Gentiles called by Jews?
Well, just a bunch of heathens. Or Gentile dogs, that's what
they used to call Gentiles. Oh, my. For this cause, I will confess
to thee among the Gentiles and sing unto thy name. And again,
he saith, rejoice, ye Gentiles. See, notice in verse 8, he talked
about the circumcision. That's the Jews. And now he's
saying, rejoice ye Gentiles, with his people. And again, praise
the Lord all ye Gentiles. And laud him, give him praise.
All ye people. And again Isaiah saith, there
shall be a root out of Jesse. We know who that root is. That's
the Messiah. And He that shall rise to reign
over the Gentiles. That's Christ. And then listen
to this. In verse 12, in Him, in Him shall
the Gentiles trust. Oh my. And then it says in verse
13, now the God of hope fill you with all joy. And oh, what
joy we we our hearts get filled with joy when we think of our
wonderful Savior. Fill you with all joy and peace
in believing that she may abound in hope through the power of
the Holy of the Holy Ghost. So the words, let's go back to
Second Samuel. the words of David which we see
in 2 Samuel 22.50 are quoted by Paul there in Romans 15.9
and applied to the conversion of the Gentiles. So we see the prophecy here and
then we see the fulfillment in Romans 15 there where we were
looking. Isn't that wonderful? I will give thanks unto thee,
O Lord, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy
name." And we saw back there the Gentiles rejoiced, didn't
they? I ask you who are a child of God, do you rejoice? We rejoice, don't we? We rejoice
that the Lord saved us. Oh, what a Savior. What a Savior. And God's people give thanks
to our great God, knowing our unworthiness, knowing our unworthiness,
knowing we don't merit at all this mercy and grace that we've
received in Christ. And we're thankful. We're thankful
for the manifold blessings that the Lord gives us in and through
Christ. And we're thankful that He keeps us amidst the world
of ungodly men. And again, I'm going to stress
this. The only thing that's made us to differ is God. Is God. Oftentimes people say, you Christians,
and again, I've said this many times, I'll say it again. But
they say, you Christians, you think you're better than everyone?
I say, no, we don't. No. I've not met one Christian yet,
one true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Who thinks he's
better or she's better than anybody else? I haven't met one. But
that's what the world thinks. Little do they know we think
very little of ourselves and very much of our Savior. Because we know this mercy is
undeserved, this grace is undeserved. And we sing to our great God. Look at the latter part of this
verse, and it says, and I will sing praises unto thy name. I'll
give thanks, it says in the first part of the Lord. O Lord among
the heathen, I'll sing praises unto thy name. Well, we sing
to our God, whether people like it or not. Hey, he's our God. He's our God. We're going to
sing praises to him. We're going to give Him thanks.
We're going to speak of the mercy and goodness and grace that we've
received in Christ. And note that David ends this
song of praise in this chapter like he began
giving all the glory to our great God. He did not ascribe again
his victories among the heathen, among his enemies. to his own
strength, he just didn't do it. He doesn't, again, as one commentator
said, he doesn't ascribe his victories to his sword like some
generals do. Speak of their mighty military
skill. No, David gives all the glory
to the one who has all power, Jehovah. Look at the first part
of this chapter. Look at verses two to four. And he, David, said, the Lord
is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer. The God of my rock
and him will I trust. He is my shield and the horn
of my salvation. God is. My high tower and my
refuge, my savior, thou savest me from violence. I will call
on the Lord, who is worthy to be praised. He's the only one
worthy. So shall I be saved from mine
enemies. And we are in Christ. And then look at verses 50 and
51. He ends the song the same way that he started it. Praising
the only one who is worthy of our praise. Look at verse 50
and 51. Therefore, I will give thanks
unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and I will sing praises
unto thy name. He is the tower of salvation
for his king and showeth mercy to his anointed unto David and
to his seed forevermore. So he ends this song the same
way he began it, giving all glory to the Lord. David sings praises
to our great God, praises to his king. who has been merciful to Him,
gracious to Him. And this is true of all the elect
of God. We sing praises to the same mighty God that David sang
to. It's the same God who delivered
David, it's the same God who delivered us. Just as he delivered David from
his enemies, he delivered us from our enemies. He is the God-man, the mediator,
Jesus Christ. Fully God and fully man. And
he saved his people from all their sins. By the shedding of his precious
blood, he gave his life for us. His life force was manifested
in the fact that He gave His life for us. And it is He who has obtained
eternal redemption. He has it. And He gives it to
whomever He pleases. And we know those that He pleases
to give it to are the ones that the Father gave Him in eternity. And in Christ, Beloved, we have
an inheritance, incorruptible, that fadeth not away. It can't
be touched by the things of this world. And we're in this world! Our salvation is sure in Christ.
Sure in Him. Our eternal inheritance is reserved
for us in heaven where nothing can destroy it. Look at the last verse of this
wonderful chapter. David continues, he says, He
is the tower of salvation for his king, and showeth mercy to
his anointed unto David and to his seed forevermore. David, in bringing this song
to a close, speaks of the great deliverance
which we have in He who is our great king. God shows mercy to His people
through who? The Anointed One. Through the Anointed One. And we who are blessed are His
seed, His people, the elect of God. And we have received mercy forevermore
through Christ, our Lord. So we see then this concluding
verse of the psalm becomes a key to all the rest. Becomes a key
to all the rest as David brings all of the divine mercies of
our great God to us. And brings to us that he is the
source. He is the source of all divine
mercies. And they're all centered in the
person who is anointed of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the only one who completed the
work of righteousness, the only one whose perfect, sinless,
No thought sin, no deed sin, no action sin, no spoken sin.
Perfect. Perfect. Now David was a type of Christ
in some places of this song, and we see how the whole song
of deliverance, it's a song of deliverance, it directly pointing
to the redemptive work of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's the promised seed, isn't
He? He's the anointed one. He's the one full of grace and
truth. Turn, if you would, to Psalm
89. Psalm 89. Look at this. Psalm 89, verses 19 to 37. Psalm
89, verses 19 to 37. We're going
to read a long portion here. Psalm 89, verses 19 to 37. Then
thou spakest in vision to thy holy one and saidest, I have
laid help upon one that is mighty. Who's the one that's mighty?
That's Christ. I have exalted one chosen out
of the people. That's Christ. I have found David
my servant with my holy oil, have I anointed him with whom
my hand shall be established, mine arm also shall strengthen
him. The enemy shall not exact upon
him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him, and I will beat
down his foes before his face and plague them that hate him.
But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him. And in my
name shall his horn be exalted. I will set his hand also in the
sea, and his right hand in the rivers. He shall cry unto me,
Thou art my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. Also
I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the
earth. My mercy will I keep for him forevermore, and my covenant
shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to
endure forever. and his throne is the days of
heaven. If his children forsake my law
and walk not in my judgments, if they break my statutes and
keep not my commandments, then I will visit their transgression
with the rod and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my
loving kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my
faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break.
Our God's a covenant God. He keeps his promises. nor alter
the thing that has gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by
my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before
me. It shall be established forever
as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. All of God's enemies will one
day stand before Christ. And we know that it's Christ
who's conquered the hearts of we who are His people. It is He who has made us to differ.
It's He who has made us willing in the day of His power. It's
Christ we saw this morning who sent the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. to regenerate us, to He who has
given us a new heart. And this again is all the work
of God, in and through Christ, who accomplished the work of
righteousness. And God our Father has given
salvation in the hand of His King, the Lord Jesus Christ. And hath given unto Christ a
name which is above every name, And all the spiritual seed, the
elect of God, that the Father gave to Christ, He redeemed. He purchased them on Calvary's
cross. And they are born again, and they will be born again,
those who are still lost by the Holy Spirit of God. And they're
blessed forevermore in Jesus Christ our Lord. So we've seen
here, That the Lord was faithful to the literal David, and he
will not break his covenant with David. He's the chosen one in
Christ. And the everlasting covenant
of grace from before the foundation of the world. And this is true
for every one of God's blood-bonded saints. He will not break his
covenant with us. That's why Christ said, All the
Father giveth me shall come. And I don't know why it's cast
out. God's promise is sure. It's sure. Look at verse 50 again and think
of the great deliverance we have in and through Jesus Christ our
Lord. Great deliverance. Oh, actually, no, sorry. Turn
to Psalm 1850. I'm sorry. Psalm 1850. Psalm 1850. We'll read
one verse. Psalm 1850. Great deliverance giveth he to
his king, and showeth mercy to his anointed, to David and to
his seed forevermore. Now here's a question for all
who are here tonight. Here's a question for all here
tonight and all who will listen to this message. Can you say
the same as David that the Lord is all my salvation? He's all my salvation. Can you
say that? Can you sing a song of praise and love and gratitude
as David did? If not, then I pray that God
would make it so. That he'd make it so. That you'd
be born again by his power. That you'd be able to say with
his people, the Lord is my rock. my shield, my tower, my refuge,
and my savior. And what precious comfort these
words bring to the child of God. The Lord is my rock. The one who lives is my rock. He's my shield. He protects me. He's my tower. He's the one I
run to. That speaks of a high tower. That speaks, when it says my
tower there, it speaks of a high tower on a crag of rocks that's
hard to access by the enemy. He's our high tower. He's our
refuge. He's our city of refuge. But wonder of wonders, He's my
Savior. Oh, what a great God. Oh, what
great love Christ has for His people. May we think upon these
truths this week, and may they bless our souls. Heavenly Father,
we thank You for allowing us again to gather together, allowing
us to come and hear Thy Word and to look into Thy Word. Thank
You, Lord. We who are your people, we praise
your name. We thank you for allowing us
to be able to come to a place where we can sit in comfort and
sit in peace and worship you. We thank you for a country where
we can do that, Lord. We have freedom to gather together. We know all this comes from thy
hand, oh Lord. We know it all comes from you.
Lord, we thank you most for revealing Christ to us. Oh, Father, there
was a time when we were just dead in trespasses and sins and
had no hope, but oh, what a hope we who believe have now. And
all our hope is centered in Thee, Lord Jesus. Glory to You in honor
and praise. In Your name we pray. Amen.