Let's begin our service opening
our Bibles to Psalm 143. Psalm 143. Greetings from several of our
brethren in Lexington at Todd's Road. We had a good service and
good visit there this past Sunday evening. Psalm 143. Hear my prayer, O Lord. Give
ear to my supplications. In thy faithfulness answer me,
and in thy righteousness. And enter not into judgment with
thy servant, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.
For the enemy hath persecuted my soul. He hath smitten my life
down to the ground. He hath made me to dwell in darkness
as those that have been long dead. Therefore is my spirit
overwhelmed within me. My heart within me is desolate.
I remember the days of old. I meditate on all thy works.
I muse on the work of thy hands. I stretch forth my hands unto
thee. My soul thirsteth after thee as a thirsty land. Hear
me speedily, O Lord. My spirit faileth. Hide not thy
face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the
pit. Cause me to hear thy loving kindness in the morning, for
in thee do I trust. Cause me to know the way wherein
I should walk, for I lift up my soul unto thee. Deliver me,
O Lord, from mine enemies. I flee unto thee to hide me. Teach me to do thy will, for
thou art my God. Thy spirit is good. Lead me into
the land of uprightness. Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name's
sake. For thy righteousness' sake, bring my soul out of trouble.
And of thy mercy, cut off mine enemies. and destroy all them
that afflict my soul, for I am thy servant. You will turn to 122. 122. Why did they nail Him to Calvary's
tree? Why, tell me, why was He there? Jesus, the Helper, the Healer,
the Friend. Why, tell me, why was He there? All my iniquities on Him were
laid, He nailed them all to the tree. Jesus, the dead of my sinful
repentance, Why should he love me, a sinner
undone? Why, tell me, why should he love
me? I do not merit the love he has
shown Why, tell me, why should he care? All my iniquities on him were
laid He nailed them all Jesus, the dead of my sinfully
pain, He paid the ransom for me. Why should I linger afar from
his love? Why, tell me, why should I fear? Somehow I know I should venture
and prove Tell me, why should I fear? All my iniquities on Him were
laid. He nailed them all to the tree. Let's turn back to page 67. 67. you O Savior, as my eyes behold the
wonders of thy might untold, the heavens in glorious light
of rain, the vast How can it be? How can it be? How can it be? How can it be? How can it be? Of a soul like mine How can it be? As at the cross I humbly bow,
And gaze upon thy thorn-crowned brow, And view the precious bleeding
form, bruised and torn. Knowing thy suffering was for
me, in grief I cry, how can it be? How can it be? How can it be? Of a soul like me? Oh, how can it be? How can it be, how can it be? Was ever grace so full and free? From heights of bliss to depths
of woe, In loving kindness thou didst go. From sin and shame
to rescue me, O love divine, how can it be? How can it be? If you would now open your Bibles
with me to Psalm 116. Psalm 116. We're going to read just the
first nine verses and look at the first nine verses this evening,
kind of take our time a couple of weeks going through this psalm.
My suspicion is if you look at the Bible of an old saint, you'll
find well-worn pages on the pages of Psalm 115 and Psalm 116. It
brings so much comfort. to the hearts of God's people.
We're going to take a few weeks to look at this psalm. Psalm
116 verse one. I love the Lord because he has
heard my voice and my supplications because he hath inclined his
ear unto me. Therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. The
sorrows of death encompassed me and the pains of hell got
hold upon me. I found trouble and sorrow. called
I upon the name of the Lord. O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver
my soul. Gracious is the Lord and righteous. Yea, our God is merciful. The
Lord preserveth the simple. I was brought low and he helped
me. Return unto thy rest, O my soul,
for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. For thou hast delivered
my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from
falling. I will walk before the Lord in
the land of the living. We'll end our reading there.
Let's bow together. Our merciful and righteous, gracious
and truthful Heavenly Father. Lord, we bow in your presence
this morning or this evening. Father, we lift up our voice
and our hearts unto thee. That you'd hear our cry. Father,
that you'd be merciful to your people. That you would, in mercy
and grace, condescend to meet with us tonight and enable us
to worship you in spirit and in truth. Enable us to have this
time where we have gathered out of the world, that it be a profitable
time. That our hearts might be enabled
to worship the true and the living God. Let us, in thanksgiving
to our Savior, worship and praise Him in awe and wonder that such
a glorious person as your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, would
humble Himself to come to this earth made flesh to redeem a
sinful people such as we are. Well, how can we ever thank you?
How can we ever praise you enough? Hearts are overwhelmed at your
mercy and your grace to your people in Christ Jesus. And father,
I pray that this evening you enable us to worship, that you'd
enable your gospel to be preached in the power of your spirit,
not in the weakness of human intellect and power, but father,
the power of your spirit, that your son would be glorified,
that your people would be comforted, instructed, with another sight
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, if it could be Thy will
that this evening would be the evening that You would cause
Your Word to go forth and give life and faith, cause one of
Your sheep to come to Christ and close with Him. Father, I
thank You for this place that You've given to us, this family
of believers that You've called together. I pray that You would
bless each one, each home with Your presence. Father, we thank
you for your mercy and your grace to us all these many, many years. And we say with Abraham of old,
if you'd let us dare speak with this once more. Father, would
you continue to be merciful? Don't leave us alone, we pray.
Continue to call out your people, continue to preserve and protect
your people, continue to feed your sheep through the preaching
of your word, we pray. Cause us to be a blessing one
to another and a blessing to this community. Bless your word
as it goes forward. Father again bless us we pray.
Bless us for Christ's sake. Hear us for Christ's sake. Accept
us in the beloved. For it's in his precious name
we pray and give thanks. Amen. Precious Lord, take my hand Lead
me on, help me stand I am tired, I am weak I am born. Through the storm, through the
night, O lead me on to the light. Take my hand, precious Lord. When my way grows drear Precious
Lord, linger near When my life is almost gone Hear my call, hold my hand, lest
I fall. Take my hand, precious Lord,
lead me home. Sing that first verse. Precious
Lord, take my hand, lead me on, help me stand. I am tired, I am weak, I am worn. Lead me on to the light. Take my hand, precious Lord. Lead me home. Thank you, Mike. I don't know
that that. I don't know that that song has
ever meant more in my heart than this very moment. That's outstanding. Alright, Psalm 116. I titled the message this evening.
Why would the Lord hear my cry? So many times in scripture we're
told to cry unto the Lord. Why would the Lord hear my cry? Psalmist begins verse one. I
love the Lord because he had heard my voice and my supplications. Now, we don't love the Lord because
he hears our cry. We love the Lord because he first
loved us. That's so isn't it? We love the
Lord because of who the Lord is. It's not just because of
what he's done for us. See, that's the difference between
a servant and a child. A servant serves and does what
he does because of what he can get for it. A child loves their
parents simply because they're a child. Simply because their
parent is their parent. A believer loves the Lord because
God has given us a new nature that loves him and made us his
child. But if you want to count up the
reasons that the Lord has given his people to love him, the Lord
has given many reasons. If you want to count those reasons
up, you're going to have to be able to count awful high, aren't
you? Charles Spurgeon said, we have super abundant reason for
loving the Lord. And we do. Too many reasons to
count. I love that the Lord is the one
who made me so miserable that I would cry to him for mercy.
And then he gave me mercy because I cried. He made me so miserable
that I would cry, and then He stooped to hear me. I love that.
I love that the Lord would do that for me. And we feel that
way. We do love that the Lord hears
our cries, don't we? I love that the Lord hears our
weakest cry for mercy, our weakest cry for help, our weakest cry
for salvation. What a wonderful Savior who would
hear sinners like you and me. I'm thankful, aren't you? And
I like how the Lord hears his people. Verse 2, the psalmist
says, because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will
I call upon him as long as I live. The Lord hears his people tenderly. He inclines, he bows himself
down tenderly to hear his people's cry, just like a mother stoops
down to put her ear up next to the sick child's mouth as it
whispers what it needs and it's complaint, it's sorrow, it's
pain. That mother's so tender to stoop
and hear. That's what that word inclines
means. The God of glory tenderly stoops,
bows himself down to hear the weak cries of his children. And
it's a good thing he does. Because sometimes, often, as
a matter of fact, our prayer is so feeble, we can hardly hear
it. Sometimes our prayers are so
weak, we can't even find the right words to use. But you know
the Lord still hears. Because the Lord hears the cry
of the hearts of his children. It doesn't even have to be audibly.
He hears a silent cry from the hearts of his people. So the
psalmist says, therefore, since the Lord condescends to hear
my cry, I'm going to call on him as long as I live. I'm going
to keep calling on the Lord for mercy. I'm going to keep calling
on him for grace to help in time of need. I'm going to keep calling
on him for strength. I'm going to keep asking him
for his comfort. I'm going to keep asking him
for his presence that he doesn't take his presence away from me.
I'm going to keep calling on the Lord as long as I live. This
word call, it means more than just crying out in prayer and
asking for things. The word has to do with praise
and worship. It means love and adoration of
all different kinds. So if the Lord has heard our
cry, we should cry out in praise, shouldn't we? If he's heard us
in the past, we should cry out to him in praise and thanksgiving. that the Lord would hear, that
the Lord would save sinners like us. The Lord Jehovah is our savior. He has saved his people from
their sin. We should cry out to him in worship. That's what we should do. And
you know, one really good way to worship the Lord is to cry
out to him for mercy. Then stay silent. at his feet,
waiting on him to do what he will. That's what the leper did. Scripture says the leper, this
leper came and worshiped the Lord. And you know what he did?
Lord, if you will, you can make me whole. Couldn't say another
word. Just stayed there at the master's
feet to see what he would do. What is his will? Lord, if you
will, you can make me whole. Now that's worship. That's calling
on the Lord. That's what the psalmist means
here. I love, oh how I love that the Lord hears the cries of poor
sinners. Now we can all understand what
the psalmist is saying here, can't we? I love the Lord because
he heard my cry. But now here's back to my question.
What right do I have to think that when I cry, the Lord would
hear me? What right do I have to think
that? You know, if I think that the Lord loves me, that would
give me confidence to cry out to Him for help, wouldn't you?
If you think somebody loves you, you wouldn't be afraid to ask
them for help, would you? If I think that the Lord loves me,
I wouldn't be afraid to cry out to Him for mercy. I'd have confidence.
But what right do I have to be confident? What right do I have
to say I love the Lord because He first loved me? What right
do I have to say God loves me? What right do I have to say God's
going to hear my cries because he loves me? Well, the answer
is the sacrifice of Christ. Look, first John chapter four.
We just we just sang. How can it be? I do not know
how it can be that God would love the likes of me. I don't
know how that can be. That's that's just only in the
character of God that he could love a sinful wretch like me.
But I know that God gives us the evidence that he loves his
people. It's because he sacrificed his son for their sin. That's
how we know God loves his people. First John four, verse nine.
And this was manifested the love of God toward us because the
God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might
live through him here in his love. Here's the definition of
love. Here is the picture of love. Here is what love really
is. Not that we love God, but that he loved us. and sent His
Son to be the propitiation for our sins. And that sacrifice
of Christ that shows God's love for His people, that demonstrated
His eternal love for His people, that's what the psalmist is talking
about in the next verses of our psalm. And there can be no doubt
who's speaking in this psalm. There can be no doubt. Nobody
but our Lord Jesus Christ could be speaking. And as He speaks,
the Savior gives us three reasons. to give his people the right
to call on him and expect that he'll hear them. Number one is
this. My right to call on God for mercy
and expect that he will hear me is that Christ died for my
sin. Verse three, now Psalm 116. The
sorrows of death compassed me and the pains of hell got hold
upon me. I found trouble and sorrow. Now the only reason that Christ
could say sorrow and death has compassed Him, that it's just
surrounded Him, and it's surrounding Him, and the word means just
like closing in closer and closer and closer. The only reason He
could say sorrow and death compassed Him is He was made sin for His
people. You know, the only reason for
death is sin. The Lord Jesus never sinned,
ever. So the only way the Holy Son of God could die is if he
was made sin for somebody else, if he was made the sin of his
people. Now, when we say that, please always understand this. You all understand this, but
people will make this accusation. So please understand that nobody
in their right mind is saying that Christ was made a sinner.
He was made sin. That's what scripture says. He
was made a mass of all of the sin of all of his people on one
person, one place at one time. He was made sin. And when Christ
took the sin of his people away from them, he suffered everything
that sin deserves. He suffered it all. That sin
demanded that Christ die. But before he died, he suffered
every effect of sin. He suffered the shame of sin.
He said, I'm not able to look up. My mind iniquities have got
hold upon me. So I'm not able to look up. He
felt the shame of sin. He suffered all the sorrow, the
sin brings, the pain, the suffering, the, the fear, the guilt, he
suffered all of that. And he suffered separation from
his father. When he talks here about the
pains of death got hold upon me. That's what he's talking
about. Separation from his father. You reckon Christ loves his people?
That he willingly suffered being separated from his father for
them? I'd say he does, wouldn't you? The writer here talks about the
pains of hell. You're the torment of hell. Hell
is a real place. I'm confident of that. From what
I read in scripture, we don't know a whole lot about it, but
I do know this. The torment of hell is not fire and brimstone. The torment of hell is separation
from God. It's never being able to satisfy
God's justice. It's never being able to come
in his presence accepted. The word he uses, hell, here
has to do with a craving. It's a craving for satisfaction,
a craving for acceptance that's never found. And Christ suffered
that on Calvary Street. He suffered the full horror of
every trouble and every sorrow of sin at Calvary. And it was
awful, awful suffering. Not just his physical suffering,
I shouldn't say just, his physical sufferings are unimaginable.
But the suffering of his soul was far worse. The word pains
he uses here, it doesn't mean like he smashed his finger with
a hammer. It means an aggravated pain that
came from fierce enemies trying to afflict him, an aggravated
misery. You and I can't imagine the depths
of the Savior's torment as he suffered everything the sin of
his people deserves. He says that trouble and sorrow
found him. He didn't do anything to deserve
trouble and sorrow to bring that upon himself, but trouble and
sorrow found the Savior. because trouble and sorrow naturally
follow sin. And he would made sin for his
people. And that's what Christ suffered on the tree for his
people. And like I said, that's the greatest demonstration of
love that there can be. That's what the Apostle John
was talking about. So my right to call on God for
mercy and have some expectation that he will hear me is the sacrifice
of Christ. See, my expectation that God
will hear me when I cry is not because I'm any good, not because
I deserve for God to hear me, but because Christ does. It's
all for Christ's sake. If Christ took my sin away from
me. Why wouldn't God hear me? Why
wouldn't God accept me? Christ took away every reason
that would make God turn away from me. He took all my sin away.
That's my expectation that God will hear me when I cry for mercy. My sin caused the Lord Jesus
Christ so much pain, sorrow, suffering and death. And he suffered
that because that's what justice demanded. Justice demanded he
suffer that and then that he died. That's what justice demanded.
Well, you know what else justice demands? Justice demands that
if Christ suffered for my sin, I can never suffer for it too.
God can't punish for the same sin twice. Can't be done. So
if Christ died for me, God's justice demands that God show
me mercy. And that gives me confidence
to call on God for mercy. You know, I told you if I had
any inkling that God would love me, that would give me confidence
to call on him and ask him for mercy. Well, the evidence that
God loves his people is he sacrificed his son to be the propitiation,
the sin covering for their sin. Now, that's my right to call
on God and expect he'll hear me, is he does love me because
he sent his son to die for my sin. And if God went to the extreme
of crucifying his son to put away my sin, because that's the
one and only way sin could be put away, is the father crucifying
his son as a sacrifice for sin. Did I believe God loved me enough
and he loves his son enough to hear my cry for mercy for Christ's
sake, for Christ's sake, because of his sacrifice. The sacrifice
of Christ, suffering and dying for sinners. That's who he said
he suffered and died. He didn't say he was suffering
and dying for good people. He says, as a matter of fact, I'm
not suffering and dying for good people, but for sinners. The fact that Christ died for
sinners gives this poor sinner encouragement to call on God
for mercy. All right, number two. My right to call on God and think
that God will hear me is that Christ's sacrifice put my sin
away. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ died
because he took my sin away from me. He suffered what that sin
deserved, death. All right, Christ died. Jesus of Nazareth died on a cross. That is an historical fact. So
how do I know that Christ's sacrifice really did take my sin away?
How do I know that? You know, I could, I could tell
you, I could, you know, you know, the person that I love in this
room sitting right there, I could tell her, honey, I love you.
I'm going to take your sin. I'm going to pay the penalty
for you. I could tell her that. Now, I could say that, but my
death wouldn't pay for your sin. I don't care how much I loved
you, how genuine and heartfelt my emotion might be. My death
would not pay for your sin and you'd still be condemned. So
how do I know when Christ died that he took my sin away and
paid for it by his death? How do I know that? The resurrection
of Christ. See, Christ died, but He didn't
stay dead, did He? He suffered for sin. And as He
suffered for sin, the Father would give Him no mercy. The
Father would only pour out upon Him wrath and justice. When Christ suffered for sin,
the Father would not hear His prayer. He would not. He said,
My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? He wouldn't hear
His cry. He wouldn't hear His prayer.
But when the sacrifice was over, when it was done. The great transaction
is done. The Father heard him again. When
he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my soul. The Father
heard him and the Father accepted him. That's what verse 4 says.
Then called I upon the name of the Lord. O Lord, I beseech thee,
deliver my soul. Deliver my soul now, because
sin's been paid for. Now that the sacrifice is done,
now that sin has been paid in full, now accept me." And the
father heard that prayer and he granted that. He says in verse
7, return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt
bountifully with thee. For thou hast delivered my soul
from death, mine eyes from tears and my feet from falling. The
father delivered Christ from death because the sin that was
charged to him was gone. He did die. They laid a dead
body in that tomb. But Christ had to rise again.
He had to rise again. Death could have no power over
him, no hold upon him, because there's no sin. So now when the
Savior prays, he prays that the Father give mercy and grace to
his people, and the Father gives it. Verse 5, he says, Gracious
is the Lord and righteous. Yea, our God is merciful. The Savior prays here for both
grace and righteousness, mercy and truth. Now, the Savior never
prayed for grace for himself. He never prayed that the Father
give him something that he doesn't deserve. But he prayed that for
his people, not for himself, but for his people. And Christ
was not delivered. He asked the Father, deliver
him from death, deliver me from the grave. Well, that wasn't
because the Father was merciful to him. That wasn't because the
Father was being gracious to him and just giving him something
he didn't deserve. Christ was delivered from the grave in righteousness. In righteousness. Because sin
was gone. But that brought grace and truth. Grace and righteousness to his
people. When the Savior prays for his
people, he asks for grace and righteousness. And the Father's
going to grant that request. The only way the Father can be
gracious to God, the Father is holy. He's perfect. The only
way he can be gracious to his people is in righteousness, is
in truth. So the Savior's requested the
Father be both gracious and righteous to his people. And the resurrection
of Christ is the evidence that God will do that for his people.
The resurrection of Christ is the evidence that Christ's death
justified His people, made His people without sin. The Apostle
said He was delivered for our offenses and He was raised again
for our justification. He was raised again as the evidence,
the proof. He justified His people. Now,
since the sin of God's elect is gone, God will be righteous
when He shows grace and mercy to them. And that's what the
Savior is praying for. The Savior prays that the Father
be gracious to his people, that he accept his people in justice
and righteousness, because he said, that's what I earned for
them. That's what I bought for them with my death. So when the
Father is gracious to his people, he's righteous and just to do
it, because that's what the death of Christ earned for his people.
And God will save. He will preserve his people.
He's going to preserve, he'll save them. He will call them. He will keep them. He will preserve
them to the end, all because of the sacrifice of Christ. Verse
six, the Lord preserveth the simple. I was brought low and
he helped me. I'll tell you a story about this.
Verse six, the Lord preserveth the simple. There's a story that
I've heard on brother Henry. He was talking one time about
he was a young man. And he took a couple of men with
him. They were going to go way out in Kentucky somewhere to
preach to somebody's family, you know, way, way out there
in the boondocks. They lived in a cabin or something,
you know. And they drove and drove and drove and they finally
got there. And they got there and there's
a house over there, but there's a creek swollen with the rain,
a lot like tonight. And there's no bridge. The only
way you get over that house is by wading through that creek. But the water's up. It's been
raining, you know, and the water's flowing really fast through there.
So what they did is they had to walk way upstream and start
walking, because they had to go upstream, because as they
walked, that stream was pushing them down. So they went way up
there and started walking and ended up at the house. They got
there, and Henry preached, and then they walked back up and
walked back, you know, and ended up back by the car. Henry's telling
this story. And Doris is sitting there just
listening. He got done and she quoted this verse. She said,
the Lord preserve with the simple. But isn't that what the Lord
does? He preserves the simple. And aren't you thankful? The
Lord preserves his simple people their whole life long. Even when
they're so simple and foolish, they didn't know it. The Lord
preserves His people before they even knew Him. He preserves His
people before they even knew what was going on. They just
thought it was dumb luck. And it was God preserving them
the whole time. It's the Lord been preserving
us all along until His appointed time came when He crossed our
path with the gospel and He'd give us life and faith to believe
in Christ. And then the Lord will keep preserving
His people. God saves His people. Buddy, that's just the start
of the battle. I mean, that's just the start of it. They're
going to go through so many storms, so many trials, so many sorrows,
so many valleys, but the Lord will preserve His people through
them all. This is His promise to His people,
and He's going to keep His promise. He's going to preserve them,
because that's what the sacrifice of Christ purchased for His people.
Say it this way, the blood of Christ cleanseth us from all
sin and preserveth us from all sin. His blood is the great preservative. That's why God preserves his
people. Believers in scripture are often referred to as the
simple. They're the simple, meaning that a believer has a simplicity
in their hope. Their hope of salvation is very
simple. It's a single hope. It's Christ alone. And if you
trust Christ alone, you're one of the simple ones and God will
always preserve you and protect you. And we're going to be brought
low. And he says here in verse six,
I was brought low. We brought ourselves low because
of our sin, haven't we? But the Lord's not going to leave
his people there. He's going to lift us up just exactly like
Christ was brought low as our substitute. He was brought so
low he went to the grave for his people. But he didn't stay
there, did he? No, he walked out of the tomb.
The father lifted him up. And because Christ walked out
of the tomb, because our representative has been lifted up, his people
must be lifted up, too. The father's going to preserve
and protect his people. He'll lift them up. And that
gives us an expectation that we call on him for mercy. He'll
hear. We call on him, Lord, preserve
me, Lord, protect me, keep me for Christ's sake. Our expectation
that he will is the resurrection of Christ. All right. Lastly, my right to call on God
for mercy is that Christ the Savior is in heaven making intercession
for me. Verse nine, I will walk before
the Lord in the land of the living. This is the Savior saying, I
will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. And the
Savior came to earth. He knew he was going to die.
He knew he was going to suffer and die. That's the whole reason
he came to earth. He didn't come to earth to be
some sort of a reformer, some sort of an example so people
could wear little bracelets. You know, what would Jesus do?
He didn't come to be an example. The whole reason the Lord Jesus
Christ came to this earth was to die. That's the reason he
came. Because his death, number one, would glorify his father.
By enabling his father to be both just and justifier of him
which believeth in Jesus. And Christ came to die so that
he would save his people from their sin, that he would pay
the penalty of the sin of his people. That's why he came. So
all along he knew he would die, but he also always knew he would
be resurrected. There was never a question in
his mind that he's going to die and stay dead. He always knew
he would be resurrected because he always knew his sacrifice
would be sufficient to pay the price. He always knew that he
would please his father. Even while he was living in his
earthly ministry, he talked about his resurrection and pleasing
the father in past tense. There's never any question that
he's He's going to satisfy his father, that he would be raised
from the dead. And Christ always knew that after
he was resurrected, he would ascend back to the father. Before
he was crucified, what did he tell the disciples? I go to my
father and your father. That's where I'm going. He always
knew that. He always knew he's a successful savior. Somehow, I suspect We wouldn't
get so bent out of shape about every little thing that goes
on in our lives if we knew the same thing. He's the successful
Savior. Now you call on Him. He's able
to save. He's able to save. Our Lord Jesus
Christ ascended from this earth and went back up into the clouds.
The disciples stood there watching Him go. He ascended back. He
went back to glory, to the land of the living. You somehow, we
think this earth is the land of the living. We talk about
this as the land of the living. And then the people we know have
died, they're not in the land of the living anymore. Well,
I got news for you. This is the land of the walking
dead. This is not the land of the living. There's the land
of the living. Wherever Christ is, that's the
land of the living. He left this land of the walking
dead and went to the land of the living. And what's he doing
there? In the land of the living, He's
ever living to make intercession for His people. He's in the land
of the living before His Father accepted. And His people are
accepted in Him. So what right do believers have
to think if I call on the Lord, He'll hear me? It's because of
what Christ is doing right now. He's making intercession for
His people. He always hears the cries of His people because he's
our intercessor before the Father. But that won't always be our
relationship with the Savior. It won't always be our relationship.
It is now, but it won't always be. One day, the Savior's coming
back. Just as he went up, he's coming
back. He's going to return, and when
he returns, he's going to judge the earth in righteousness. And
he's going to bring his people to that glorious place the scripture
calls heaven. And just like I don't know much
about hell, I don't know much about heaven. It's a real place.
I know that. And this I know beyond a shadow of a doubt about
heaven. The glory of that place is not going to be streets of
gold. It's not going to be pearly gates. It's not going to be flowers
and trees and lakes and streams. It's not going to be eternal
spring day. The glory of heaven is the Lord
Jesus Christ. The indescribable glory of heaven,
the unimaginable glory of heaven to our finite minds is to see
Christ, to see him face to face. And to be made just like We can imagine the glory of that,
that truth. What a day that will be when
we are enabled to walk before the Lord in the land of the living. See, then we're not going to
need him as our intercessor anymore. We'll be with him face to face.
Now that's God's purpose for his people. That's when Christ,
before he went to the cross, isn't that what he prayed? Father,
I will. I mean, this is my will for this transaction that we're
about to enter into here. It is my will that all those
whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory. He's going to bring that purpose
to pass. That's his whole purpose. That was God's purpose in creating
earth and putting man in the first place. That Christ would
redeem his people and bring them all to be with Him where He is.
That's His purpose and He's going to do it. Then I'm pretty confident
that through our journey here below, when we cry on Him for
mercy, we cry on Him for help, He'll hear and He'll help so
that we don't fall away from Him. He's not going to let His
people fall away from Him. He's not going to allow that
to happen because His purpose is to bring them to glory. Then
that's our right to call on God for mercy and expect that he'll
hear me. It's his purpose to have mercy
on his people and to bring them to be with him where he is. I just can't think of any better
news than that. Can you? Well. All that being said. Let's bow
together and call on the Lord. Our Father, oh, how we thank
you for these precious portions of your word that you have been
pleased to make so plain and so clear. Father, we do. We call upon you. We call upon
your matchless name. God, be merciful to us. God,
reveal your glory to us. God, call out your people. God, use your word to call them
out, to plant faith and life in their hearts. Father, use
your word to shepherd your sheep, to comfort us, to feed us in
the green pastures of your word, to lead us beside those deep,
still cool waters. Use your word to shepherd your
people as a rod and a staff to keep us from straying away, to
keep us looking to and depending upon our Lord Jesus Christ. Father,
would you reveal your glory and your mercy to your people in
our day. Father, we call upon you and
we thank you for your unspeakable mercy and grace, your unspeakable
gift of your son to us. Father, for your glory, for Christ's
sake, we pray that you'd hear us and accept us in him. It's
in the precious name of Christ, our Savior, we pray and give
thanks. Let's stand and sing 235. Let's do the chorus. Two verses
and a chorus, then two more verses and a chorus. 235. Ashley Nod, O gentle Savior,
hear my humble cry. Do not pass me by. Let me add a throne of mercy
Kind of sweet relief Kneeling there in deep contrition Held
by unbelief Savior, Savior Hear my humble cry While on others
thou art calling Do not pass me by Trusting only in thy merit
Would I seek Thy face? Heal my wounded, broken spirit. Save me, my life. the spring of all my comfort,
more than life to me. Whom have I on earth beside thee? Whom in heaven Savior, Savior, hear my humble
cry. I on others Thou art calling, do
not pass me by.