The name of the message today
is the Believer's Prayer. The Believer's Prayer. Open your
Bibles if you would to Psalm 61. I'd like us to look at this
Psalm. Psalm 61. Here's a question. Does everyone
in this world find themselves at one point or another in a
time of need? Now we as believers have been
shown our needy state, haven't we? And we know that we are in
constant need. Constant need. All the time. And praise be to
God, God doesn't leave us alone. He doesn't say, well, I don't
think you're in much of a need right now. Even when we're in
the smallest need, He's there with us, providing for us, and
taking care of us, whether we see it or not. That's the other
thing. There's times the Lord's working
in our lives and we don't even see it, until after the fact. Or there's some times we probably
won't see it, but it'll be revealed to us eventually. My oh my. Do we as believers in the Lord
Jesus Christ find ourselves in a time of need? Well, yes. Constantly we find ourselves
in a time of need. We are in constant need of grace
and mercy from our great God, aren't we? Why are we in constant
need? Because we're constantly sinners. I was talking to Joe Terrell
yesterday, and he said, Wayne, if you really knew my thoughts
and the people really knew my thoughts while I preached to
you, they wouldn't want to be around me. That's true of every believer,
isn't it? We don't fully understand the wickedness and the sinfulness
of our sin, but think of this, God knows God knows the sinfulness of our
sin, and yet He still loves us. Oh my! God knows the sinfulness
of our sin, and yet He still loves His people with an eternal
love. That's remarkable! because he's loved his people
for eternity. There's never been a time when he hasn't loved us,
even when we were dead in trespasses and sins. We were children of
wrath even as others in appearance, but we saw from that scripture
in 1 Thessalonians 5 that God has not appointed us to wrath. When's that been from? From eternity. Amen. We've never
been appointed to wrath, but yet our sins had to be paid for,
didn't they? Every single sin had to be paid
for. And you know what? The Lord Jesus Christ, I found
this this week, and this just knocked my socks off. We know
that we're forgiven of all our sins, don't we? We know that
we're forgiven of all our sins past, present, and future, right? We know that. We know that. But little do we think often
that God has made a provision for all our sins. They've already been provided
for. Why? In who? In and through the Lord Jesus
Christ. bought and paid for we are by
His precious, precious blood. Purchased, fully redeemed. Now
that will put a step in a believer's walk, won't it? Not because of
anything with us, because we know we're so unworthy, but because
of all that the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us. So where do
we find comfort in our times of need? Well, as believers,
we only have one place to go, don't we? Now we can find comfort
in friends and family, right? But even that's fleeting, isn't
it? Because sometimes our friends
let us down, sometimes our family let us down, right? You know,
it's like the old preacher said, don't look at me all the time
because I'm going to let you down. It's true. But there's one who will never
let us down, who will ever hear us. Whoever watches over us,
I'm going to put a message together, hopefully for next week, about
how the Lord's thoughts are towards us. Continually. Continually, beloved. They're
fixed on us. As believers. See, we don't grasp
that, do we? Because we're finite beings.
We think, how can the Lord have thoughts for all his elect of
all the ages, even the ones on earth and the ones in heaven.
Because he's God. And his thoughts towards us are
not evil. They're good. Because we're in Christ. I just
gave you a poorly outlined message, but that's okay. That's alright.
Because it's comforting, isn't it? It's comforting. It's comforting
to know that. So we're so needy, and yet the
Lord is ever watchful over us. Everyone's full of us. It's wonderful.
It's absolutely wonderful. We need comfort as believers
and we only find comfort, true comfort, in Christ. Comfort in
the things of this world is fleeting, aren't they? If you take comfort
out of the things of the world and think that, well, that will
bring me eternal comfort. No, it won't. Everything in this
world is just going to disappear. But there's only one who's eternal.
There's only one in whom we find eternal comfort. And that's the
Lord Jesus Christ. Our comfort is in the Eternal
One. The Son of God. Who has redeemed us with His
precious precious blood and has saved us according to His mercy
and His grace. So when we need comfort as believers,
we turn to Christ. We turn to Christ. We turn to
our great God and we cry out to Him in prayer. And we'll see
this brought forth in this wonderful song of David. The first point
I'd like us to consider is that we see prayer springing from
faith in God. Now God-given faith, God-given
faith will pray to our great God. Whether it's just this,
God be merciful to me a sinner. It doesn't have to be some long,
drawn-out prayer. God have mercy on me. Or when
we're driving or when we're on our own, oh Lord, forgive me. And we know our sins are already
forgiven, but we still cry out to Him. Another thing Joe Terrell
brought up in our conversation yesterday that I found fascinating,
he was talking about us confessing our sins. And he said the word
confess in the Greek actually means I agree. Scott Richardson used to say
that we lay down our arms of battle against the Lord and we
take sides with God against ourselves. So when we confess our sins,
we're saying, God, I'm a sinner. We're agreeing with God. Hence,
the Republican said, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. He's acknowledging his sinnership.
And he's just saying, just God be merciful to me. That's what
we do too as believers, isn't it? Oh Lord, just have mercy
on me. Have mercy on me. And he's ever
forgiving and loving God. It's wonderful. Let's look at this Psalm 61. We know that faith, faith is
given to us. It's a gift of God, it's not
of works, lest any man should boast. Which Ephesians chapter
2 verse 8 and 9 bring forth. Look at this in Psalm 61. David
cries out with God-given faith. He says, Hear my cry, O God,
attend unto my prayer. Hear my cry and attend unto my
prayer. From the end of the earth will
I cry unto thee. When my heart is overwhelmed,
lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Look at that. Lead me
to the rock that is higher than I. So several commentators have
brought forth that this prayer is a prayer when Absalom was
rebelling against David. So you could imagine how David
would feel when his own son has turned against him and when his
trusted advisors have turned against him. We can just imagine
how he would feel. My, he'd be overwhelmed, wouldn't
he? He'd be absolutely overwhelmed. And David, we know, he went through
several trials. Several trials and several temptations. And David was the one who saw
his neighbor's wife and took her. And then had him sent to
the front lines. And yet he is still a man after
God's own heart. He's one who God has his eyes
fixed upon. Now David paid for that sin,
didn't he? his child died, his house was in ruin, so there's
consequences to his actions. But never forget, God doesn't
punish the believer, God chastens the believer in love. So even when David was being chastened by the Lord,
it was in love. It was in absolute love. And
take note of the verse, one of the personal words. David prays
to our great God. He prays to our great God. He
cries out to Him. He's crying out here to Elohim,
who is the Mighty One. That's who he's crying out to.
Elohim. And he's crying out to him during
a time of trouble. He's crying out to him in a time
of need. But notice how he says, my God. Is Elohim your God? Is he the one that you turn to
in time of need? Because he's the only one who
can help us. No one else can help us. But Christ and Christ
alone. And he says, hear my prayer.
My prayer. Hear my cry, O God. And attend
unto my prayer. This is personal. My need. And that's what we do when we
cry out to our Lord, don't we? Attend unto my prayer. From the
end of the earth will I cry unto thee. When my heart is overwhelmed,
lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Have you ever been really
overwhelmed by a situation? Have you ever had a point where
you feel like you're drowning? Because everything's going around
and happening all around you and your thoughts are consumed
with things that are going on in your life and you're just
overwhelmed. That's how David feels. He's overwhelmed by the situation. His own son has turned against
him. His trusted counselors have turned against him. And remember,
David's a man of war. He's a soldier's soldier. Just
like Joshua. And he's here, he's overwhelmed
with the circumstances. We all have points. Well, we
feel overwhelmed by situations, don't we? There's a lot of people
that feel overwhelmed with the coronavirus. There's a lot of
people that feel overwhelmed with the political situation.
There's a lot of people that feel overwhelmed about just things
going on in the world. That's, if we're in that situation,
that's when we need to cry out to our God. Because remember,
Elohim is the strong and the mighty one. And He's ever there
for us. He's right there. Waiting for us to cry out to
Him. And sometimes we don't even cry out. He's not waiting just
for us to cry out. He's already there. But here we see David by faith.
And who's he crying out to? Oh, he's crying out to the rock
that's higher than I. You know, that's the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's Christ. He's that rock, remember the
scriptures declare? He's the one. Is he not the rock
of our salvation? Is he not the cornerstone of
our faith? He's the chief cornerstone. He's
the one we look to in time of need. He's the one we cry out
to. And again, these are personal
words. Now we may find ourselves in a situation, and I've found
myself in this situation before, where our friends just aren't
around for us. People who we thought were friends,
they've just maybe deserted us in the situation. Or even family members turn against
you because of what you believe, maybe. Or ostracize you because
of what you believe. I've been in that situation.
It's not a very pleasant situation. But God gives you strength to
get through it. I can testify, God gives grace. It would have
destroyed me if it weren't for Christ. And you get to a point where
you're so overwhelmed. You don't understand the situation. You don't understand why the
person is attacking you. especially if it's a family member,
and you're overwhelmed. But if you ever find yourself
in that situation, if you ever find yourself in a situation
where a friend has forsaken you, or a family member has forsaken
you, look to Christ. Now, I realized a long time ago
that I'm not the first one that had this happen. Because the Lord says, I come.
He comes with a sword, doesn't He? And He'll divide families and friends. And it's simply
because of what the Lord's done for us. And we don't understand
that, do we? We sit there and go, why? It's
the greatest thing that's ever happened to me. Christ has saved
me from all my sins. And they don't understand that
though. They would rather talk about things of the world, right?
And we can talk about things that are going on. We can fully
do that. But when the Lord opens the door, we're going to testify
of Christ, aren't we? We don't have to put our foot
in the door and keep it open. I'm not talking about that. That
was me in religion. Not talking about that. But when
the Lord opens the door, we tell people the great things that
our God has done for us. Somebody one time told me, you
know, it's all God with you, Wayne. God this and God that. Thank you. That's a badge of
honor. Because it is. Can you put that
on my tombstone? It was all God with him. It's true. My only answer to the situation
in the world, the situation and things we see going on, is that
the government of this world is upon his shoulders. He's in
full charge. And the hardest thing for me
to do, and is it so for you, the hardest thing for me to do
is just rest in Christ when that's all going on. But you know we're
being taught that, aren't we? This world is a teaching ground
for us. We're in the school of Christ,
beloved. We're being conformed to the image of the Son. And it's amazing. And we're being
stones made ready, aren't we? And when it's our time, we're
going to be placed in that heavenly temple. Forever. Forever. So take heed. Rejoice if you're
persecuted for your faith. Rejoice. It's hard, but rejoice. Because great is your reward
in heaven. Who's our reward in heaven? I'm not talking about
a bunch of crowns either. Who's your reward in heaven?
Christ. Amen, brother. Christ is our
reward in heaven. He told Abraham that. He said,
I'm your exceeding reward. I am. He's the one who's redeemed
us. He's the one who's purchased
us with his own precious, precious blood. And sometimes the enemies
of God, like what was happening here with David, his own son
is an enemy of God. And sometimes the enemy of God
comes like a flood against his people. And they can be overwhelmed. And there can seem to be no way
to escape. But always remember that our
great God has told us that He will never, never leave us nor
forsake us. Brother Gary preached an excellent
message on that last week. He will never leave us. He will
never forsake us. Never. So this is why David's
cry is to his God and to our God. Because he knows Elohim
is the Mighty One. He's seen things in his life.
David, like us, could look back before he was saved, and even
after he was saved. Now that's something I look at.
Look back to before you were saved, and you can see the hand
of God in your life. Protecting you, taking care of
you, even though we were shaking our fists at him. Why would he do that? Because
his everlasting love is upon us. It does not change. And we can't grasp that, can
we? We can. But think of how much
you love your wife, or how much you love your husband, or how
much you love your kids. And again, that love is but just
a little wee speck compared to how much Christ loves his people.
And we love our wives, and we love our husbands, and we love
our kids, don't we? And we love our family. But it's
not even close to how much God loves us. That's comforting,
isn't it? That's comforting. And so David
cries out to the only one who could give him comfort, the only
one who could help him. There was really no one else
who could help. Now, family and friends may try
to comfort us in our times of need, but the only one who can
give us true comfort is Christ. He's the only one. He's the only one who can give
us peace. And all we see here, David, his
sorrow, his pain is revealed right before us. And he says this, O God, attend
unto my prayer. Note that. O God, attend unto
my prayer. I ask you, who but God could
attend the prayers of all the elect on this earth at once? Because it's not just you and
I crying out to God when we do, it's all the elect that are currently
on this earth. Crying out to God, sometimes
at the same time. Now if we've got four different
people coming to us and telling us at the same time, we're going
to be overwhelmed, aren't we? But he has all the elect currently
on this earth crying out to him. And he attends unto every single
one of our prayers. That's incredible. That's who our God is. That's
the God of the Bible. And David here says, attend unto
my prayer. Listen, Lord, Lord, please listen to my prayer. The
word attend. Attend unto, in the Hebrew, is
one word, and it means to listen. Listen to my prayer, O Lord,
please. It means to listen carefully.
It doesn't mean just to listen, but it means to listen carefully.
When you listen to someone, you've got your eyes fixed upon them,
and you are listening to them. That's what it means. So have confidence when you approach
the throne of grace, because God is carefully listening
to your cry. That's incredible. The basic significance of the
term is to note the activity of paying close attention to
someone, usually another person's words. Isn't that incredible? David
says, Lord, please pay close attention to my words. And we
know what the Lord does, don't we? And he's the only one who
could attend to David's prayers. Often the term functioned as
an appeal to God, to hear and respond to an urgent prayer,
which we see here in verse 1 of our text. David's urgently crying
out to God. Again, who could attend to all
these cries of God's people? We know no man who could attend
to all the cries of God's people, or no woman who could attend
to all the cries of God's people, but the Scriptures bring forth,
turn if you would to Numbers chapter 11. The Scriptures bring
forth that Moses groaned under the burden of all the people.
Remember, people were coming to Moses and they were telling
him all their grievances. He groaned under the weight of
that. And this is not by any means
telling not to bear one another's burdens. You can write me and
tell me of something that's burdening you, and I'll pray for you. And
it won't go nowhere else. I think that we, as believers,
should pray for one another, especially the pastor. I love
you guys, and I want to pray for you. Because I know you pray
for me. And that's important. And look at this though, Moses,
because he has everybody at once, remember I said that four or
five people come to you at once? You'd just be overwhelmed, look
at this, in Numbers 11, 11. And Moses said unto the Lord,
Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? And wherefore have
I not found favour in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of
all this people upon me? And Paul had a burden for the
churches as well. In 2 Corinthians 11.28 he said,
Besides these things that are without, that which cometh upon
me daily, the care of all the churches. Now think of this too. Think
of the burden. We give our burdens to the Lord,
right? When we cry out to Him. Think,
we don't know the number of the elect on the earth currently,
but it's a lot of folks. It's a remnant, but it's a lot
of folks still. And think of this, 10,000, 20,000,
30,000, a million, two million, we don't know. Crying out to
God, laying their burdens upon Him, all at once. And He attends
to every single one. He attends to every single one
of them. He's not overwhelmed. He's not overwhelmed. What mind but the eternal mind
of God could attend to all those prayers? No one but the Eternal One could
attend to all those prayers. what love, that infinite, unchanging love of God. God does not grow
weary of hearing the cries of His people. In fact, He wants
us to cry out to Him. He wants us to lay our burdens
before Him. He already knows what they are,
right? Not one of them catch Him by surprise, do they? We're to cry out to our great
God, aren't we? And we do. We do. We pray for one another. We pray
for our lost family members and friends or co-workers. We pray for one another. We pray
for the church. We pray for other gospel preachers
who are proclaiming the gospel. We have a lot to pray for, don't
we? And then we're needy ourselves. God attends to every one of your
cries. God listens carefully to every
one of your cries. Have you ever had a friend who
would attend to everything you told them? I don't think anybody's ever
had a friend like that, have we? But Jesus Christ is a friend
that could stick it closer than a brother. He's not like anyone
else. He's the infinite, unchanging
One, beloved. And He attends unto our prayer. Look at this in Psalm 61 too.
From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee. When my heart is overwhelmed,
lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Look at that. So we've
been overwhelmed in our lives. But we always go to the rock
that is higher than I. Think of this. Who is above all
our troubles? Who is above anything that goes
on in this world? God. Where is Christ right now? He is seated at the right hand
of the Father. He is right there. He is above
all these situations going on. Nothing can reach Him. No one
can take Him from His throne. And He's ever watchful from that
throne over us. And He's ever attending our prayers.
He hears every cry. He even hears the things that
you don't cry out about that grow in your spirit. He knows
all about us. Even the very hairs of our head
are numbered. That's how intimately the Lord knows his people. We do have a friend who will
listen to every single thing we say. We do have a friend who will
listen to every single one of our cries. We do have a friend
who we can take every burden, even burdens that we cannot talk
to any other human about. We do have one who we can take
them to. His name is the Lord Jesus Christ. One who shed his
precious, precious blood for us. So if you find yourself overwhelmed
by situations in your life, I have many times, I'll admit it, I've
had many times where I've felt overwhelmed. It's not a sign
of weakness. No. It's just, I know what I
need. I know my need. Sometimes people
look at being needy as weakness. Well, I'm not ashamed to say
I'm weak. I'm not ashamed to say I'm needy.
I'm not ashamed to say that in my weakness he is strong. I'm
not ashamed to say when I'm overwhelmed I just cry out for my king. Because
I can't take care of the situation, can you? See, usually when we're
overwhelmed, we're brought to the end of our rope. Aren't we? We're brought to the point where
we're like, Lord, I do not know what to do. And there's the one who's been
standing beside you through the whole thing. Attending to every
single cry and every cheer you drop. Every heartache you feel, anguish
of the heart, anguish of the mind, He's right there. He's
ever with you. And one guy we were reading this
week, he says he just takes your hand. And he guides you. There's a scripture that says
that the Lord took a blind man by the hand and led him out of
the city. and then gave him sight, got
him away from all that stuff, all the noise of the city, and
healed him. But it says he took him by the
hand and he let him out. Isn't that wonderful? My! You know, I know in our culture
that man holding hands is not looked upon, but in Eastern culture
it happens. And I'll never forget when my
son was little, he put his hand in mine. My daughter puts her
hand in my hand. She still holds my hand to this
day. It's incredible. But to think
that the Lord, when I'm overwhelmed, when I'm going through all those
things, He's ever with me and He's got His hand upon me. Oh
my. Number one, I can't stray that
way, can I? He sure keeps us close by, doesn't
He? And He does. So if you find yourself in an
overwhelming situation or trial, it may seem huge before us. Let
me tell you, God's going to make it a mow hill. He's going to
make it a plain, as a matter of fact. He's going to trim it
down to nothing. And have you ever cried out to
the Lord? Let's turn to Psalm 42. Psalm 42. Let's look at this Psalm here. Psalm 42. Psalm 42. As the heart peniteth after the
water brooks, so peniteth my soul after thee, O God, Elohim,
the Mighty One. My soul thirsteth for God, for
the living God. When shall I come and appear
before God? Look at that. This is a cry of
David. A cry of a believer saying, my
soul thirsts after you. Before the Lord saved you, did
your soul thirst after Him? It didn't, did it? It didn't, but now it does. After
you're born again by the Holy Spirit of God, our souls thirst
after Christ. Remember, He's the water of life.
He's the Lord our righteousness. Oh my! My tears have been my meat day
and night, where they continually say unto me, where is thy God?" Now look at that. We know that David's enemies said, where is your God in Psalm
115, I believe it is. He said, my God is in heaven.
He's rolling in rain. You know, I know of a preacher.
He's not preached still, but I know of a preacher that there
was an accident. He was working on heavy equipment
machinery. And he had his son there with
him that day, and his son was killed. And one of those men that worked
with him said, where's your God now? What an awful thing to say to
someone who's just lost their son. And he said to that man, my God's
in the heavens. And he's reeling and reigning
right now. And I imagine he said that, and I know that preacher
personally. I heard that story from him. I can imagine the pain
and anguish that he was feeling. And in that enemy of God, he
fell upon him. But see, God gave him comfort,
didn't he? God gave him fortitude to say those words. My God's
in the heavens. And I imagine he said that through
tears flowing down his face. And he said, he's still raining.
He's Gene Harmon. I don't know if you guys have
ever heard of Gene Harmon. He used to preach in Rescue California.
That's who it was. I just couldn't... Same thing
happened to Henry when his son was killed in Vietnam. Somebody
came up to him and said, where's your God now? He said the same
thing. My God's in the heavens. He's
still there. And look at this, David says
here, where is thy God? His tears say that. When I remember
those things, I pour out my soul in me. Now look at this. He's
remembering things that God's done for him. When I remember these things,
I pour out my soul in me. For I have gone with the multitude,
I went with them to the house of God in the voice of joy and
praise with the multitude that kept holy day." So he goes to
the temple. We come here, right? Do you get
comforted when you come here? We come here and we get comfort,
don't we? Amidst all the things that are
going on. I look forward to Sundays to be able to meet with y'all.
And to be able to go through the Word of God. Because it brings
comfort. And then look what David says
here in verse 5. Now David, obviously is in a
state of depression. We've seen, and people say, well
how can David, David's a man after God's own heart. You're
saying he was depressed. Yeah. Yeah, he's just like you
and I. Yeah. I had one time someone told me,
they said, well, I don't ever suffer through depression. I
said, well, you're going to find a time when you will. And you
may have already went through it and not even know you went
through it. Because depression, like anxiety, has a thousand
different phases. But it's all the same. You ever
been downcast in spirit? Have you ever been downcast about
things going on, or things in your life, or things in other
people's lives? Downcast. Without hope. Praise God, though, there's hope
for the hopeless, aren't there? There is. Look what David says
here in verse 5. Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? Now he's reflecting inwards,
isn't he? And he says, why am I cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquiet in
me? Look at this. Hope thou in God. Here's hope for the hopeless,
beloved. For I shall yet praise him for
the help of his countenance. And then in verse 11 he says
again, And how could David say that? How could he turn so quickly?
Because he gets his eyes off himself and the situation that
he's going through. And he gets his eyes on Christ. And he knows the joy that he
feels when he's with God's people, hearing the Word of God preached
and proclaimed, building him up in Christ. Because remember,
David had the same faith we have, right? He looked to Christ. He looked to Christ. You can
sum up gospel preaching in two statements. Two statements. Two statements. Christ is sufficient for all.
Number one. Christ is sufficient to cover
all our sins. Christ is absolutely sufficient
in all things for us. That's statement number one.
Because what does Paul write? He writes, Christ is all. He's
everything to me, right? If you take Christ away from
me and from you who believe, we don't have anything, do we?
But what do we have in Christ? Everything. Amen, sister. Everything. So there's point number one.
Christ is sufficient for all things in our lives. Pardon for
our sin. Justification before God. Redemption. We're purchased by
His precious blood. And then the next thing is, Christ
is supreme over everything. the supremacy of Christ. In Him
dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. In Him, what
does Paul write? In ye are what? Complete in Him. There's the all-sufficiency. And then the supremacy is, all
the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily in Christ. He's God incarnate
in the flesh. All preaching can be boiled down
to those two points. Because we need a substitute,
don't we? You've heard me say, in the heart of the gospel is
substitution and satisfaction, right? Well, who's sufficient? Who's sufficient to pay for all
our sins? Christ. He's sufficient for all. All
our needs. All. Even things that seem so
insignificant to us. He's sufficient for all those
things. And He's ever with you. And He
will never, ever, ever leave you. And He's supreme. Anything we see going on in this
world, He's over it all. He's high above it. He's high
and lifted up, beloved. And nothing can touch Him. No one can take Him from His
throne. He's all supreme. He is King of Kings. and Lord
of Lords. And the angels in heaven bow
down before Him, and they worship Him, and they cry out, Holy,
Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty, who is, and was, and is to come. That is our Savior. all the times that God appeared
to his people in the Old Testament, that was the Word of God. And who is the Word of God? The
Lord Jesus Christ. When Moses received the law,
and the Lord said, I'll let my goodness pass by thee, That was
Christ. That was the Word of God. And
then, we could never fulfill one jot or till of the law. And
the very one who gave the law to Moses becomes a man. God incarnated
in the flesh. And he says, I didn't come to
abolish the law. It's still there, isn't it? It's
holy. But he says, I came to fulfill
it. For who? For his people. Because
the scripture says he came to save his people from their sins. Are you a sinner? You need Christ. You may not think you're a sinner.
You may not think you're a deed. during desperate need of Christ.
And all, we as the people of God, the only one who has made
us to differ is God himself. He is the only one who has made
us to differ. And the only reason That we are
saved sinners is because of the grace and mercy of God. And we as sinners still in this
body continue to see our desperate need for Christ. I ask you who are believers,
do you need Christ more now than you needed Him five years ago?
Or four years ago? Or a year ago? Do you need Him
more now? Yeah, because we see our sinfulness more, don't we?
And see, again, what Brother Joe said, we're just confessing
to God that we're in agreement with Him, that we're sinners. And think again, what I mentioned
earlier. Despite all that sinfulness of ours, it does not change how
God feels about His people. Why? If someone does us wrong,
we're like, you know, right? and we've broken his laws. Who
have we sinned against, really? Even if we sin against another
person, who have we really sinned against? Remember Joseph said,
I've sinned against God. He said to Potiphar's wife, you
want me to sin against my God and Potiphar? But first he said,
my God. That's who we sin against. And yet, He sees us in Christ,
and His love for us never changes. Now what does that mean? Does
that make us want to go out and sin more? Don't make me want
to go out and sin more, does it? It endears Christ to us even
more! My! God loves me despite my sinfulness,
because He bought me and He paid for my eternal soul. Let that
just be in your thoughts this week. That God's love towards
you is absolutely eternal. It'll never change. And think
of this too. This is what I was reflecting
on this week, is before the Lord saved me and how wicked I was.
I'm still wicked as a sinner. But then just outrightly just
not even acknowledging who the God of the Bible is because I
didn't know Him. And yet even then, His love was upon me. And there I was breaking His
laws and sinning against Him. We as sinners still break His
laws, don't we? But praise God, that law is holy
and wonderful, but we're not under that law anymore. Christ
has paid the penalty for His people. Now we don't just disregard
it, do we? It's from God. But praise God,
we're not under it. Christ is what? I'm going to
close with this. Christ is what? He is the end
of the law for righteousness. He's the end of the law for his
people. He didn't come to abolish law, but he came to fulfill it.
And he fulfilled it for every single one of his elect. And
I'm going to use one more thought. Because I want us to think upon
this. I want us to think upon this. Christ's thoughts are to
us. He's ever mindful of us. His thoughts are fixed upon us.