All right, let's begin our service
this evening, turning to Exodus chapter 33. Exodus chapter 33. I chose this passage. We're going
to talk about the wise seeking mercy, hear Moses, is seeking
mercy, seeking the face of God in verse 18. And he said, I beseech
thee, show me thy glory. And he said, I'll make all my
goodness pass before thee. I will proclaim the name of the
Lord before thee and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious
and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. And he said, thou
canst not see my face, for there shall no man see me and live.
The Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt
stand upon a rock, and it shall come to pass while my glory passeth
by. But I will put thee in a cleft
of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by.
And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts,
but my face shall not be seen. Let's turn now to page 527, I believe. Yeah, 527. Thanks, O God, for boundless
mercy from thy gracious throne above. Thanks for every need
provided from the fullness of thy love. Thanks for daily toil
and labor, And for rest when shadows fall. Thanks for love of friend and
neighbor, And thy goodness unto all. Thanks for thorns as well
as roses. Thanks for weakness and for health. Thanks for clouds as well as
sunshine. Thanks for poverty and wealth. Thanks for pain as well as pleasure. and thy word, our dearest treasure,
shedding light upon our way. Thanks, O God, for home and fireside,
where we share our daily bread. Thanks for hours of sweet communion,
when by thee our souls are fed. Thanks for grace in time of sorrow,
and for joy and peace in thee. Thanks for hope today, tomorrow,
and for all eternity. Let's turn back to 352. Jesus, lover of my soul, let
me to thy bosom fly, while the nearer waters roll, while the
tempest still is high. Hide me, O my Savior, I, Till the storm of life is past,
Safe into the haven guide, Home receive my soul and land. Other refuge have I none, Hangs
my helpless soul on thee. Leave, ah, leave me not alone,
till support and comfort me. All my trust on thee is strength,
all my help from thee Cover my defenseless head with the shadow
of Thy wing. Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
more than all in Thee I find. Raise the fallen, cheer the faint,
Heal the sick and lead the blind. Just and holy is Thy name, I
am all unrighteousness. False and full of sin I am, Thou
art full of truth and grace. Plenteous grace with Thee is
found, Grace to cover all my sin. Let Thy healing streams
abound, Make and keep me pure within. Freely let me take of Thee. Spring Thou up within my heart,
rise to all eternity. Let's open our Bibles now to
Psalm 107. Psalm 107. We looked at the first part of this
Psalm last Wednesday. We'll begin in verse 33. Lord
willing, look at the rest of it this evening. Psalm 107, verse 33. He turneth
rivers into a wilderness. and the water springs into dry
ground, a fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness
of them that dwell therein. He turneth the wilderness into
a standing water, and dry ground into water springs. And there
he maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city
for habitation. And so the fields and plant vineyards,
which may yield fruits of increase. He blesseth them also, so that
they are multiplied great and suffereth not their cattle to
decrease. Again, they are minished and brought low through oppression
and affliction and sorrow. He poureth contempt upon princes
and causeth them to wander in the wilderness where there is
no way. Yet setteth he the poor on high
from affliction and maketh him families like a flock. The righteous
shall see it and rejoice and all iniquity shall stop her mouth. Who so is wise and will observe
these things, even they shall understand the loving kindness
of the Lord. Thank God for his word. Let's
bow together in prayer. Our great God, our holy, majestic,
sovereign, merciful, and gracious Heavenly Father. Oh, how we thank
you for your mercy and your grace to your people. We've gathered
here together this evening out of the world to hear word from
you, to worship you. What a miracle, Father, of your
grace that you'd call a people out of this world to gather together
in the middle of the week to worship you with a heart that
desires to worship you, to hear more of Christ our Savior. What
a miracle of your mercy. Father, we're thankful. And Father,
I pray that you would bless us tonight as we attempt to worship
your matchless name. Give us a heart of worship. Bless your word as it's preached. Cause it to go forth in the power
of your spirit, to bring glory to your name, and to reach the
hearts of your children. You know the situation of everyone
here. We've gathered together out of
different circumstances, different difficulties, different problems
weighing upon our hearts. Father, meet the need of your
people through the preaching of your word. We do know our
one great need is your mercy. All we are is sin, and we need
your mercy every second, every day. We need your mercy. Father,
be merciful tonight, we pray. Reveal yourself and power to
your people that we might leave here this evening rejoicing in
Christ our Savior. Father, I thank you for this
place. I thank you for the years of blessing how richly you have
blessed this congregation. It's more than tongue can tell. And we're humbled. Oh, how we're
we're humbled with. No reason can be found but your
mercy. And Father, we beg that you not
leave us alone, but that you continue to bless, that you continue
to to reveal yourself to your people, continue to call out
your people, and continue to bless and feed your people through
the preaching of your word. Cause us, Father, to have a care,
a love one for another, to hold one another up, to pray for one
another, to help one another, to not be a stumbling block to
our brothers and sisters. Father, we pray for those in
particular that you brought into the time of trouble and trial. You know the need of your people. You know where we're at because
you let us there. And Father, I pray that you give a special
portion of your presence to those who are in a time of affliction,
that you comfort their hearts with your presence. As soon as
it could be thy will that you provide a way out. Father, again,
I beg of you that you bless us as we look into your word this
evening. Bless us with the word from you,
we pray. Of course, in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
we pray and give thanks. Amen. Father of mercy, have mercy on
me. This is my prayer, Lord, my heart's
earnest plea. Mercy is Thine, Lord, to give
or withhold. Mercy, I pray, Lord, for my sinful
soul. Father of mercy, Thy mercy is
free. Calling the poor ones, and less
than the least, Giving them grace, Lord, to dine at thy feast. How can we praise Thee? How can we adore? Blessing and honor be Thine evermore. Praise to Thy Spirit, heavenly
God. Hail to Thy Son, Lord, the Son
of God. Father of power, by power we
sing, perfect redemption through Jesus our King. Righteously before
Thee, He stands in our place. Looking at Him, Lord, we look
on Thy face. Father of glory, all glory to
Thee. for thy salvation, for setting
us free. Mercy and truth, Lord, in thee
embrace, owing it all, Lord, to thy Son. Let's open our Bibles again now
to Psalm 107. You may recall that last Wednesday
evening we looked at this Psalm and saw how the Lord gathers
His people from all over the earth from many different situations.
None of them are so far from Him that He cannot gather His
people to Himself. We saw how the Lord delivers
His people from the wilderness of man's religion. There's no
life there, nothing to sustain life there. And God gathers His
people out of that, brings them to Himself. The Lord delivers
His people from starving to death because they're trying to live
on their own righteousness. He gathers them out of that and
brings them to Christ, our righteousness, Christ, the bread of life. The
Lord delivers His people from the affliction of their sin.
by bearing their sin for them, suffering affliction for his
people, that he might deliver them. The Lord delivers his people
from many different and various and repeating troubles and trials,
so that he draws them closer to him, so that they learn to
trust him. And we saw this, how that before the Lord gathers
his people to himself, that's his purpose, his eternal purpose
is to gather those people to himself, but before he does it,
He makes those people miserable. He makes them see their helplessness
so that they're going to cry to the Lord for mercy. Now, it's
God's purpose to be merciful to them, but before he is, he's
going to make them cry for mercy. And then the Lord delivers his
people and gathers them to himself. And this was repeated four times
in the first, how many ever verses that we looked at. Oh, that mean,
but praise the Lord for his goodness. and for his wonderful works to
the children of men. See, this happens over and over
and over again. The Lord is constantly gathering
his people to himself. Now our text in this psalm ends
in verse 43, telling us that a wise person will continually
seek mercy from God. The psalmist says, who so is
wise and will observe these things, even they shall understand the
loving kindness of the Lord. Now the word loving kindness
used here Normally is translated mercy in scripture. I don't know
why they chose to translate as loving kindness here, but normally
the very same word is translated mercy. And the word observe means
something to keep and to guard something. So someone who is
observing mercy is going to keep it. They're not going to leave
mercy. They're going to continually
seek to live in God's mercy. Now let's go back up to verse
33 and see what leads the psalmist down to this conclusion in verse
43. My first point is this, that
the title of the message is wise people seek mercy. Wise people
seek mercy because of their dry, dead, barren nature. Now it is
only wise people who seek mercy from God. But man by nature is
not wise. None of us are born with any
spiritual wisdom. Truth be told, none of us are
born with any wisdom of any kind, are we? We're not born with any
wisdom to not stick our finger in the light socket or not to
fall down the stairs. Somebody's got to be teaching
us all this. We're not born with any wisdom. But the evidence
of our foolish sin nature, the evidence we have no wisdom, spiritually
speaking, is sinners do not, of their own accord, seek mercy
from God, even though mercy is their greatest need. They will
not seek mercy from God. That is the greatest evidence
of our dead spiritual nature. And refusal to seek mercy from
God has dire consequences. Now, verse 33. He turneth rivers
into a wilderness and the water springs into dry ground, a fruitful
land into barrenness for the wickedness of them that dwell
therein. God does this because of the wickedness of them that
dwell therein. Now, this description of what God does to regions in
nature is given to us as a picture of God's dealings with men. There
are places on earth that at one time, years and years and years
ago, were well watered by rivers and underground water supplies.
They're fruitful places, plants and vegetables and all kinds
of things, you know, grew there so easily. And now they're barren
wastelands. And when we see evidences, there
used to be a river here, used to be a lake here, but now they're
gone. It's just a desert. What happened?
God dried them up. That's what happened. And God
does the same thing to people. You just imagine a group of people. This description could fit a
lot of groups of people who at one time were blessed, blessed
of God. And not just with physical material
blessings. They were blessed to hear the
gospel. They were blessed to be able
to hear of Christ. Almighty God put a place in that
town, that area where people could hear the gospel. And they
had every advantage, those who would come, those who would hear,
they had every advantage spiritually. Faith cometh by hearing, doesn't
it? Hearing by the word of God. They had a place to hear the
word of God. God had given his word to those
people. And God gave them pastors and
teachers to preach that word to them. Now you think what an
advantage that was to those people. They were blessed, weren't they?
And what did they do with that blessing? They rejected Christ. They refused
to believe on Christ. And the best example of that
is the Jews, the nation Israel. The Lord gave them His law to
point them to Christ. And they turned it into a way
to earn a righteousness by them keeping it. God made Israel His
chosen nation. He told Israel, I've chosen you
out of the world. He didn't choose any other nation on earth. And
he made sure they knew, now this is my grace to you that I chose
you. I didn't choose you because you were the greatest in number,
you're the fewest. I didn't choose you because you're the best,
you're the worst, but I chose you to be my people. And you
know what they did with that? You won't find any of those old
Jews that would argue with election. Every last one of them believed
in election. Every one of them did. They believed
the elect came from Abraham's loins. They believed they were
the elect of God just because they were Jews. You see what
they did? They became proud of grace. Oh
my goodness. Instead of being humbled by God's
mercy to them, instead of being humbled that God would choose
them, instead of being humbled that God would bless them, they
became proud of it like they deserved it. God sent them prophets
to tell them, thus saith the Lord. How many times do you read
that in the prophets? Thus saith the Lord. And the Jews hated
most of them, killed many of them. Christ himself came in
the flesh as a Jew to the Jews. You think what a blessing that
is. The Savior himself. And what did they do? He came
into his own and his own received him not. They rejected him. So
he took his gospel away from them. He took his presence away
from them and sent it to the Gentiles. He dried them up, didn't
He? Look at Luke chapter 8. Luke 8 verse 18. I want you to see this from God's
Word. That's exactly what the Lord
did. Luke 8 verse 18. Take heed, therefore, how you
hear, for whosoever hath, whosoever has faith in Christ, whosoever
hears, to him shall be given. And whosoever hath not, whosoever
hath not faith, whoever does not hear with faith, from him
shall be taken, even that which he seemeth to have. Here's what
the Lord's saying. If you think you've got a righteousness
that you earned, God's going to take it from you. You're going
to lose it. Now, really, you never had it in the first place.
You just seemed to have it. But if you thought you had it, God's
going to take it away from you. If you think you've got some
corner on God, you know, God's got to give this to you. He's not going to give it to
somebody else. You know, you've got a corner on God. Be warned. God's going to take away what
you think you've got, what you seem to have. If you think you
have life, if you think you're fruitful and spiritually fruitful,
if you think you're blessed in this world because of all the
good things you do, you better be careful. God's going to take
away what you think you've got and make you bear Look at John
chapter 9. That's what he did to the Jews,
wasn't it? John chapter 9. Verse 39. And Jesus said for judgment,
I'm coming to this world that they would see might not see
and they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees
which are with him heard these words and said unto him, are
we blind also? Jesus said unto them, if you
are blind, you should have no sin. But now you say we see,
therefore your sin remaineth. Our Lord came to give spiritual
sight to the blind. Those who could not see, he came
to give them sight. But now if you think you already
see on your own, then the Lord's not going to give you spiritual
sight. You don't think you need it. and you're going to die in
your sin because you didn't think you needed Christ. See, if God
doesn't make you seek Christ, if God doesn't make you seek
mercy, you're never going to have it. And the Lord will turn. He'll take that which you think
is life and turn it into death because there's no hope for you.
So wise people seek mercy. I want to talk to you for a minute.
Let's not be like the Jews. One of my great fears, is the
Hurricane Road Grace Church will become a story that's been told. That the gospel used to be preached
in that place. That there used to be a group
of people there who believed God. Because for whatever reason,
we got so full of ourselves, we rejected it. Let's be wise. Let's pray God gives us wisdom
to seek mercy. The Lord must be leading Eric
the same way He's leading my heart tonight. Eric in the study
prayed that the Lord would make us seek His mercy. That the Lord
would make us not take this for granted. That we don't lose it. Oh, let's be wise. Let's ask
God to give us wisdom to seek God's mercy. Look at verse 35
back in our text. Psalm 107 verse 35. He turneth the wilderness into
a standing water and dry ground into water springs. Now here
again, there's a desert and everything's dead in that desert. But it'd
be a tropical jungle if the Lord just send water to it. I've seen
pictures of the desert. It rains once every few years,
but boy, when it does, the beauty of the plants and stuff that
springs up Then it all goes back dormant again because there's
no water. Just think what would happen if God sent water there
all the time. He'd make it that dry ground to be a water spring.
Well, that's just what the Lord does for His people spiritually.
Christ came to give life to the spiritually dead. And that life's
more abundant, isn't it? It's more abundant than physical
life. I'm thankful for physical life.
We're all going to lose that. You'll never lose eternal life.
It's more abundant than the life you think you can earn by your
own righteousness, because you're going to lose that. You're going
to find out that's not life at all. This is eternal life that
can never be lost. It's abundant. Christ came to
give the water of life to the dry, barren wastelands of the
hearts of his people. See, they once were dry and dead,
but now they're so full of water, they're like a marsh. This water
is just there all the time. Once they had no water at all.
Now, just like the Lord told that woman at the well, they've
got a well of water springing up in their heart. Once all they
did was thirst. But now once they drank of Christ,
they'll never thirst again. Now, why did that happen? How
did that happen? How did those dry, barren people
become this lush, water-filled land? Because God revealed Christ
the water of life to them. And they never thirsted again.
Christ came to give water to the thirsty. Are you thirsty? Our Lord said,
if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. Sounds to
me like the question is, are you thirsty? If you're thirsty,
come to Christ and drink all you want. Drink all you need.
It's free. Now, wise people seek mercy,
don't they? Wise people seek this water. Well, then let's call on God
and beg him for mercy, beg him to give us this water of life.
And if he does, you're going to find that nothing will refresh
your heart like Christ. You'll enjoy a lot of other things
in this earth. Everything in this earth is given
for God's people to enjoy. Don't feel guilty about enjoying
those things, but nothing's going to satisfy your heart. But Christ,
God's going to give that to those that seek mercy. Okay, number
two, wise people seek mercy because they're hungry. Verse 36, and
there he maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare
a city for a habitation. Now, the hungry here are those
that David talked about, those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. See, this is a spiritual hunger,
a spiritual thirst. Now, when we're hungry, and I
mean when we're really hungry. Later on tonight, Jay and I are
going to sit down and watch one of our shows and I'm going to
have to have a snack. I mean, it's just my body's condition
is not because I'm hungry, just because I want a snack, you know.
But I'm talking about when we're hungry, when you're hungry. You
know why you feel those hunger pangs? That's your body's way
of telling you there's something you need that's not inside of
you and you've got to get it from outside of you. Same thing
when we're thirsty. Our body tells us when we're
thirsty. Our body's telling us that my body needs something
that's not inside me. I've got to get it from outside.
That's what happens when God saves a sinner. He makes them
miserable. He makes them hunger and thirst
after righteousness that that sinner does not have inside of
him and can't earn himself, can't get any other way other than
begging God to give it to him. See, I need God to give me righteousness
from outside of me. I need him to give it to me and
put it in me. I need God to give me life. I'm born dead. I need God to give me life and
put it in me. Not leave it up to me to take
it, but to give it to me. If I'm dead, I can't reach out
and take it, can I? I need him to give it to me, put it in me.
I need God to give me Christ. I need God to put me in Christ. That's the only way my hunger
can be satisfied. And in His mercy to His people,
God makes them to dwell in Christ. He makes them dwell in a place
where they can be fed by hearing the gospel preached. Now, what
a mercy from God to be put in Christ. If God's put us in Christ,
you think what that means. That means we're one with Christ.
That means that we are what He is because we're one with Him.
What a mercy from God to be put where we can constantly feed
on Christ. What a mercy of God to be put
in a place where we can come and find salvation for our souls.
We can come and find strength for our hearts. We can find comfort
for our souls and our hearts through the preaching of the
gospel. How merciful God is to His people. And I say again,
brethren, let's not take that for granted. God does not owe
us. that kind of mercy. And I hope
Hurricane Road Grace Church, this people, never takes for
granted this blessed privilege God's given us to have a place
we can meet together and worship, to have a place that we can hear
the gospel preached week after week after week, and not take
that for granted and think, God's always going to keep the gospel
here. I mean, Brother Henry's our pastor for 50 years. Now, how long we've been in this
building now? God's blessed us and blessed us and blessed us
and blessed us. I'm thankful, but don't think he has to. Now,
let's not fall into that trap, just like those old Jews are
thinking he has to keep doing that for us here. Because he
doesn't have to, does he? No. God's not blessed this people
because we're better than everybody else in this tri-state area who
is wherever they're at. That's not why is it? It's because
of God's mercy. It's because of God's mercy we
hadn't left. I mean, what keeps you coming back here week after
week after week? What happens? Why doesn't something, the most
insignificant, immaterial thing in this world happen and make
you think, well, I'm never going back there again. I'm never going
back here in that preacher. I'll never go back with those
people again. Why hasn't that happened to you? Why haven't
you thought, you know, maybe there's something better. I'm
gonna go find something better. Why hasn't that happened to you? You're smarter than everybody
else. You're stronger than everybody else. You're more religious than
everybody else. No. God's merciful. He's merciful. Wise people will
seek God's mercy. Wise people will seek mercy where
it's found, in Christ. For Christ's sake, God be merciful
to me for Christ's sake. Wise people will continually
ask God for mercy. God, don't leave me to my own
self. Be merciful. God, don't remove your candlestick
from this place. Don't remove your mercy from
us. Lord, keep us. Keep us. Keep us ever close to
you. Keep us from leaving so we'll
be blessed. Right, here's the third thing.
Wise people seek mercy to save the lost. Verse 37. God's put
them in this place where they can prepare a city for habitation
and sow the fields and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits
of increase. He blessed them also so that
they are multiplied greatly and suffereth not their cattle to
decrease. Now remember when God brought
his people Israel into the land and he blessed them in, that's
a picture of redemption. God brought Israel into the land
he promised. because He's a covenant God.
God does what He does because He purposed to do it from eternity.
And God brought them to that land. God fed them there. He
provided for them there. He blessed them and increased
them in every way, didn't He? Oh, how merciful God was. But
you'll notice that people still had to sow fields, they still
had to plant vineyards, so they'd have fruit to eat, didn't they?
And God's people today have to do the same thing. Oh, God's
blessed. How God has blessed us. And I'm
talking specifically Hurricane Road Grace Church, us here. How
God has blessed us. But you know what? We still got
to plant, don't we? We still got to sow. We still
got to water. God's the one that gives the seed to plant. God's
the one that gives the water. And God's going to be the one
to give the increase. That's what He promises He's going to
do. But we still have to plant and water. God has given us this
place of mercy. He's given us this ministry.
And by God's grace, this is a place where God is worshipped. This
is a place where God's worshipped through the preaching of Christ. And I don't think I'm wrong in
saying this, that right now, right now, this seems to me to
be a very special time. It seems to me that God He is
richly blessed and giving us showers of blessing. Now, all
that's of the Lord. All that's of the Lord. But we're
still responsible to continue planting the seed. You who believe,
aren't you thankful for God's mercy to you? I know you. I know
you're thankful for God's mercy to you. But this is what I also
know. I know the prayer of your heart
every day. The prayer of your heart every
day is that the Lord would save your children. He'd saved your
loved ones that don't know the Lord. That's the prayer of your
heart every day. God's been merciful to you, so
you pray the Lord be merciful to others, especially those you
love after the flesh. Well, do you know how that's
going to happen? If God's going to save our children, if God's going
to save our loved ones, He's going to save our friends and
our neighbors. You know how that's going to happen? by the planting
of the seed, the planting of the seed, the word of God. This,
this word is the seed that God uses to give life and he plants
it through the preaching of the gospel. Now, listen, I can't promise
you that God's going to save all of our children. Can't promise
that because I don't know what the Lord be pleased to do, but
I do know this. God's promised to save his people
through the preaching of the gospel and they're not going
to be saved without it. I do know that. Now, aren't we
thankful for God's mercy to us? Oh, how thankful we are. Well,
I pray the Lord be merciful to us in this respect too. That
he'll make us faithful to preach the gospel to the next generation.
That he'll make us faithful in this time to our friends,
to our community, to the people that are here now. God will make
us faithful to preach to this generation, to our friends, our
family, our children, our neighbors. And like I said, I can't promise
you God's going to save those that we love. I don't know whether
I'd be pleased to do that or not, but I do know He's not going
to save them without hearing the gospel. It's pleased God
by the foolishness of preaching to save them to believe. Whether
my prayers or the Lord will make us wise, that He'll make us wise
to pray for mercy for our children and for our loved ones. That
the Lord will make us see our utter helplessness, we've got
to beg God, Lord, would you be merciful to save the lost? And
then Lord, make us faithful to preach the gospel. Make us faithful
to attend it and support it, because that's how God saves
and blesses his people. All right, fourthly, wise people
seek mercy when they're brought low. Verse 39 says again, they
are minished and brought low through oppression, affliction,
and sorrow. Now, the verse immediately before
this told us God's promises to bless his people. He promised
to bless their families, increase them greatly with children. He
promised to bless them materially, not going to let their cattle
diminish. That was the way they measured riches in those times.
He's not going to let their cattle diminish. But now in the very
next sentence, he also tells them that they're going to be
diminished. They're going to be diminished. They're going
to be brought low through oppression. to affliction and sorrow. God
has had mercy on his people, but there's no escaping being
oppressed by sin. There's no escaping being oppressed
by the sin that's within. There's no escaping being oppressed
by the sin that's without. And I'm convinced our worst problem
is the sin that's within. It's the sin that is within that
oppresses us and makes us not able to hear, makes us weak in
faith, makes us want to take our eyes off Christ. We're going
to be oppressed by the sin that's within constantly trying to turn
us back to the law. God's people in this earth are
going to suffer affliction. It's because of the sin that's
in our body. Now, God saved us from our sin, but you can't escape
the effect of sin in our bodies. You can't escape the effects
of sin in this world that makes people hate Christ, hate his
gospel and hate his people. And God's people will be brought
low. They will continually be brought low with sorrow. Sorrows
of sin, all the sorrow that sin brings, death, sickness, loss,
decay, all happens because of sin. And you might wonder, why
does God allow that to go on? I believe I got an answer for
you if you wonder that. You want to hear it? God does that. He minishes his people. He lets
them be brought low because of their sorrows and oppression
and affliction. Because he's merciful to his
people. That's right, because he's merciful to his people.
In his mercy, God allows those things to continue in our bodies
and continue in our world to bring us low to make us seek
the Lord. Now, whatever it is that makes
you seek the Lord, that's mercy in it. That's God's mercy. And
wise people will seek the Lord when they're brought low. Now
the proud and the foolish won't do that. Verse 40 describes the
proud and the foolish. He pours contempt upon princes
and causes them to wander in the wilderness where there is
no way. Now these princes are people who think that they're
strong in themselves. They don't feel any need to seek
the Lord's mercy. Because they're foolish. They
think they're strong when they're not. They think they can provide
for themselves. They think whatever God requires, I can provide that. Just give me time. I can put
forth the effort to do that. And the sad thing is, God's going
to give them exactly what they want. He's going to leave them
alone. They're not calling on Him. They're not seeking Him.
And He's going to leave them alone. And they're going to wander lost
in the wilderness because they don't know Christ the way. They're
so foolish they don't even know Christ is theirs. They don't
seek him. But that's not what happens to the wise. Verse 41. Yet saideth he the poor on high
from affliction and maketh him families like a flock. Now the
wise seek Christ when they're brought low, when they're afflicted.
God afflicts them. He minishes them so that they
will seek Christ. They're going to cry unto the
Lord in their troubles and God's going to hear God's going to
deliver them. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children
of men. And not only does God deliver
his people. Oh, they've been brought so low.
He takes them and sets them up on high. He gathers the family
of God together like a flock of sheep that's led and protected
by Christ, the good shepherd. He takes the low and raises them
on high. I started to flip through my
Bible to give you some examples of that. We don't have time this
evening. Let me give you three. Hannah. Hannah was brought so low. She
couldn't have a child and she was brought so low. Oh, how low. Bless her poor heart. She cried to God for mercy, didn't
she? God set her on high. David. David was brought low. Samuel, the prophet, announced
he's coming to Jesse's house. I mean, can you imagine? Oh,
my soul. Samuel. Samuel's coming to our
house to anoint a king. David was brought low. Jesse
was so sure this boy cannot be the king of Israel, he sent him
out there to wash the sheep. so all them other boys could
take a bath and comb their beards and look good and sane. And then they called for David.
God said, that's the man. And right there in Jesse's living
room, David was going to be king of Israel. Then David was finished. How many years he sat upon the
throne of Israel, running for his life, just sure the next
minute the enemy was going to take his life. If it wasn't Saul,
it's going to be somebody else. I mean, the king of Israel's
sole purpose in life was to kill that man David. He brought low
what? Hiding in dens and caves of the
earth? And then, in a day, God set him
on high and made him king of Israel. And more than that, God
promised David, this one who'd been brought so low, David, the
Savior is coming through your loins. Your son is going to sit
on the throne forever. He made him, set him on high.
How about Saul of Tarsus? He seemed to have a lot of things,
didn't he? Seemed to have a lot. And in an instant, God took it
all away from him and brought him low down in the dust so that
he'd seek mercy. Lord, what would you have me
do? He raised him up on high and made him an apostle, the
greatest apostle, made him a preacher of his gospel. But here's the illustration of
what the psalmist is talking about here. Our Lord Jesus Christ
was brought low. Nobody was brought more low than
Christ the Savior. He was brought low when he was
made flesh, wasn't he? Can't even imagine. And when
he was made sin for his people, how he was brought so low. He
suffered and he died for sin. He was brought so low. But he
didn't stay there, did he? No, the Father raised Him and
set Him up on high because He's redeemed His people. Set Him
up on high to live forever, making intercession for His people.
Now He has an everlasting priesthood. He has an everlasting kingdom.
The Father said to our Savior, Thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever. You've got a scepter of righteousness.
You rule and reign forever. And since our Savior set on high,
All of his people are set on high, too, because we're in him. Right now, even though here we
sit right now tonight, if you believe Christ, you're seated
in heavenly places. How? In Christ Jesus. Set on
high. And I tell you, that makes wise
people seek the Lord and rejoice in him. Verse 42. The righteous
shall see it and rejoice, and all iniquity shall stop her mouth. Now, I referred to this earlier.
You know, we have, we who believe, we have so many things to be
happy about in this life. You've got a husband, dear wife.
I'm just telling you, having Janet makes me happy. I don't
feel any need at all to apologize for that. Having her makes me
happy. It's not hard to tell having her makes my life better.
Our children makes me happy. Lord willing, Two of them are
going to come home this weekend. We're happy, looking forward
to it. We're going to have a good time together. Our family, our
homes. I love my home. I mean, I just
love my home. It's wonderful. I love to be
there. Our jobs and all the things God's provided for us in this
life. And like I said earlier, you don't feel guilty about being
happy about those things, about those things making you happy.
But do remember this, those things make you happy. But remember
this, all those things can and they will one day be taken away
from us. So the believers rejoicing, this
is talking about rejoicing. The believers rejoicing is in
Christ. That's our rejoicing. It's because
of who Christ is, what he's done for us and what he's done in
us. And that rejoicing is not going to be taken away from you.
It's eternal because our Savior is eternal. God's people will
eternally sing the praises of Christ our Redeemer. And in that
day, you know who's gonna shut her mouth? Iniquity. That sin which oppresses us now,
one day is gonna shut her mouth because Christ has taken it all
away from His people. So verse 43, now here's our conclusion. Whoso is wise and will observe
these things, even they shall understand the loving kindness
of the Lord. Whosoever is wise will observe
this mercy, this mercy of God. They'll guard it. They'll keep
it. They'll not turn to another gospel.
They'll not turn to another way of worship, another way of salvation,
another way of righteousness. They're not going to turn from
it. They're going to keep it. Whosoever is wise will continually
seek Christ, will continually seek Him, will continually seek
His mercy because we continually need it. Here's the thing about God's
mercy. God's mercy is sovereign. It's sovereign. That means God
gives his mercy to whosoever he will. And to whom he will,
he withholds it. And it's right either way. Nobody
has a right to question the king about his mercy. If God spares
you and me in mercy, well, that's wonderful, isn't it? I mean,
that's wonderful. I'm so thankful. And the only way he can do it
is because Christ was punished for us. And if God does not spare
us and he gives us what we deserve, well, we don't have anything
to complain about, do we? God's just given us what we deserve. And since
mercy is sovereign, and since mercy is saving, God's mercy
is always saving mercy. God always saves the objects
of his mercy. God's mercy is sovereign. He
gives it to whom he will. God's mercy is saving mercy.
It always saves the objects of God's love. Well, that tells
me God's going to show mercy to somebody. He said, I'll give
mercy to him, I will give mercy. God's going to give mercy to
somebody. The character of God is to be merciful. God's going
to be merciful to somebody. And when he does, when he is
merciful to somebody, they have salvation. Well, then a wise person is going
to beg God for mercy, won't they? Lord, you're going to have mercy
on somebody. I know that. Would you have mercy on me? Oh,
would you have mercy on me? I pray the Lord will make us
wise and give us the wisdom to seek mercy from God. Let's bow
together in prayer. Our father, how we thank you
for your mercy. So undeserved. Yet so rich, saving
mercy. Father, how we thank You that
in Your wisdom to show mercy to Your people, You would punish
Your Son fully for all of our sins. You would not give us what
we deserve. You would not give Your people
what they deserve. Because You gave Christ our substitute, everything
our sin deserved. So that we're saved, redeemed,
washed from all sin in Him. Father, how we thank You. The
human tongue cannot express the glory of the gospel of your mercy. We can't express a thanksgiving
for your mercy to your people. Father, I pray that you'd make
us wise, that you'd make each one of us here tonight wise to
seek you, to seek your mercy, that you not leave us to our
own devices, but make us wise. Seek Christ our wisdom and to
seek you. Father, we thank you. And all
these things we ask. We ask you for your mercy. We
beg you for your mercy and we thank you. In the name of Christ
our Savior. Amen. Mike, you come lead us in a song
if you will. Let's stand and sing 351. 351. And on that chorus, let's change
that word cross to Christ of the cross. It's not in the cross. It's not my glory. It's the one
on that cross and what he did and who he is. Jesus, keep me near the cross
There's a precious fountain Free to walk a healing stream Close
from Calvary's mountain In the cries of the cross, be my glory
ever, till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river. Near the cross a trembling soul
Love and mercy found me There the bright and morning star Sheds
its beams around me the cries of the cross, be my
glory ever, till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the
river. Near the cross, O Lamb of God,
bring its scenes before me. Help me walk from day to day
with its shadows In the Christ of the Cross be
my glory ever, Till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the
river. Near the cross I'll watch and
wait Hoping, trusting ever Till I reach the golden strand Just
beyond the river In the Christ