Let's open our Bibles again to
Psalm 56. I titled the message this evening, Good Everyday Theology. You're the only religion, the
only preaching, the only theology that's good to us. It's something
that we can use every day. I just don't put much stock in
theology that's only good on Sunday, Wednesday. Do you? I
don't put much stock in in theology that just comes from the ivory
tower, just kind of good, you know, up there in the clouds.
And it's not good for us on Monday and Tuesday, not good for us
down here in the muck, in the mire, the fife. Pastor, can you give me something
I can take with me tonight that will be useful to me every day?
I'm out there in the world on the front lines all by myself.
Can you give me something useful that I can take with me every
day? I believe I can. I want us to see four things
that a believer can do that's good everyday theology. Three times in this psalm, David
talks about something that happens every day, something the enemy
does every day. So these are situations we're
going to face every day. The enemy hasn't changed from
David's day to our day. These are things we face every
day and God's word gives us something for them. So here's the first
thing. Good everyday theology is to
seek mercy every day. Verse 1, David says, Be merciful
unto me, O God, for man would swallow me up. He fighting daily
oppresseth me. Mine enemies would daily swallow
me up, for they be many that fight against me, O thou Most
High. Now man daily fights against
me. David says, I fight a host of
enemies every day, whose desire is to swallow me up. Now, those
enemies certainly are men of the world, people who hate God,
who hate the gospel, who hate you, who believe it. And they're
tough to deal with, aren't they? Oh, they're tough to deal with.
And we need help in dealing with them. Well, here's something
we can do every day dealing with that enemy. Seek mercy from God
every day. Seek His mercy. But I tell you
the worst enemy we have, David says here, is man. Man. That's more than just men of
the world. It's the nature of man. It's the nature of man that
I carry with me all the time. My old nature. And that man would
swallow me up every day. He would just run me into the
ground and defeat me every day. He'd get rid of me. He'd get
rid of that new man if he could. David says, he fights against
me daily. The word means to feed on. He feeds on me. He tries
to devour me every day. He tries to devour that new man
every day. And it is every day. Every day. Because that old man is an unrelenting
enemy. In a civil war that goes on inside
the believer every day. See, we're not just talking about
religious jargon here, are we? This is something you've lived
today. You believe God, you fought this battle today. What can I
do when the enemy would devour me? What can I do when that enemy
seems so strong, seems like he will devour me? Good everyday
theology. Seek mercy from God. Seek mercy
in Christ. That's the only way to be delivered
from that old man. Look at Romans chapter seven.
So I told you this is good for every day. David fought this
and the Apostle Paul did too. We do too. Look what he says here about
being delivered from that old man who would devour us. Romans
7 verse 24. O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? Who shall deliver
me from this old dead man? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. That's how I'll be delivered.
So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with
the flesh, the law of sin. If you'd be delivered from that
old man, you'd be delivered from that flesh. Seek mercy in Christ. He's the only one who can deliver
you. And then David says, that old man daily oppresses me. And
the word means to cause distress, to cause distress or cause me
to be stressed. Well, how does the old man cause
us so much distress? It's by all those things he whispers
in our ear. He whispers in our ear, you know,
you're not good enough. How can you be a Christian and
do such a thing? Look at you. You know, God bless
you if you start acting better. God couldn't save somebody as
awful as you. You better clean yourself up.
You better start straightening up and flying right and start
keeping some of the law. Then maybe God will bless you.
You'll start acting better. Then maybe you can go ask God
to do something for you. That's what he whispers in our ear.
And that causes stress to the believer. Because we can't keep
the law. We can't do anything to make
ourselves better. We're ruined in sin. Now again,
that's not just religious jargon, is it? I bet you you've lived
that today. Believers live that today. And
I think I'm stressed out. I need some relief from this
stress. Here's some good everyday theology. Here's our relief. Seek mercy
from God. Seek mercy. Don't ask God to
give you what you deserve because you started that better. Ask
the Lord for mercy. Ask God to be merciful to you
for Christ's sake. Mercy is God not giving us what
we deserve. Then ask God, be merciful to
me because you gave Christ what I deserve. And you know the person
who cries to God, God be merciful to me, the sinner. That person
will be given relief. Always that person will receive
mercy. Now this is good everyday theology. I don't care what day it is.
I don't care who you are. Seek mercy from God. If I'm lost,
I need God to show mercy to me. The only way I can be saved is
if God shows mercy to me. The only way a sinner can be
saved is by pure 100% mercy. It's got to be mercy because
we can't do anything to earn any part of it. It's got to be
all mercy. And when that old man's whispering
in your ear, mercy, answers every need. Mercy answers the need
of my soul by giving me salvation in Christ. Just exactly what
I need. Then cry out to God for mercy.
But we never get past that point right there. Begging God for
mercy. Mercy doesn't end when God regenerates
me, reveals himself to me. I need God's mercy every day.
I need his mercy to comfort my heart. I need to be reminded
of God's mercy every day. Because that old man has reminded
me of sin. He's reminded me of law. He's
reminded me of all those other things every day. He's always
whispering in my ear. And I need mercy to answer his
accusations every day. The only thing that will answer
every one of that old man's accusations is mercy. He's got nothing to
say for mercy. Mercy will shut him up for a
little while. He's coming back. He's unrelenting,
but mercy will shut him up for a little while. It'll give you
a relief from that stress for a little while. Because everything
the old man says, you're not good enough. That's true. That's
true. Absolutely true. But I'm looking for mercy. See,
it answers every accusation. God's free and sovereign mercy
will answer every charge that causes all of our stress. So
call out to God for mercy. Crying out to God for mercy sure
ought to relieve our stress. Because look who David says he's
calling to, O thou most high. Our enemies are many, aren't
they? They don't fight fair. They're powerful enemies. All
their charges that they bring against us, they're true, aren't
they? We are sinful. We are shameful. We don't deserve
anything but wrath from God. But we're not pleading for mercy
or for justice. We're pleading for mercy. from
the Most High. Mercy from the Most High is going
to get the job done. Mercy from the Most High will
be enough for somebody as low as me. Our enemies are powerful,
but our defender is more powerful. He's the Most High. Our enemies
bring true charges against us, but our advocate is more powerful. He's the Most High. The blood
and the intercession of the Most High It's going to win out every
time. Our enemies, my enemies fight
against me daily. But my advocate is the most high,
whoever lives making intercession for me. My sin is ever before
me. My enemies bring up my sin to
me all the time and it stresses me out. But my advocate is the
most high, whoever lives making intercession for me. calling
out for mercy from Him will relieve our stress. So this is good everyday
theology. Daily, cry out for mercy from
the Most High. Flee to the rock that is higher
than I and higher than them, higher than our enemies. Flee
to Him. That's good everyday theology right where we live.
Beg God for mercy every day. All right, number two, this is
good everyday theology. It's to trust in the Lord daily. Verse 3, what time I am afraid,
I will trust in thee. Now look back at 1 Samuel chapter
21. I want us to read the situation that David found himself in that
caused him to write this psalm. 1 Samuel 21, this is right after
David, he was on the run from Saul and he went there to Himalek
the priest and asked him for a sword and some bread. And remember
the Himelech said, here's the sword of Goliath. And David says,
give that me. There's none like it. And David
left that place. He had bread. He had the sword
of Goliath. I mean, now this man's armed.
I mean, God's with him. God promised him, David, I'm
going with you. And look what he did. Verse 10.
And David arose and fled that day for fear of Saul. And where'd
he go? Achish, the king of Gath. That's
the Philistine king. And the servants of Achish said
unto him, Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not
sing one to another of him in dances, saying, Saul has slain
his thousands, and David his ten thousands? And David laid
up these words in his heart, and now he's sore afraid of Achish,
the king of Gath. And he changed his behavior before
them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled
on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon
his beard. Then said Achish unto his servants, Lo, ye see, this
man's mad. He's gone crazy. Wherefore then
have ye brought him to me? Have I need of madman that ye
have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall
this fellow come to my house? The king said, No, he won't.
And he sent him on his way. Poor old David. David's fear
caused him to do something foolish, didn't it? Caused him to go seek
refuge with the Philistines. the Philistines of all people.
And then he got afraid of the Philistines. And so the way he
thought I'll get out of this is by acting like I've lost my
mind, just scrabbling on the door, letting spit fall down
on his beard, you know, just, just acting plain a fool. And
people looked at him and they said, is this God's anointed
King of Israel? This fella? Is this the man? After God's own heart? Is this
the man? This one who's playing the fool,
acting like he's lost his mind, who's afraid of the king of the
Philistines, who's afraid of Saul, may run to the Philistines
in the first place. Is this the man who says, I'll trust in the
Lord, so I shall not be moved? Yep, that's the man. That's the
very fella. I can identify with him, can
you? Because I am both the old man and the new man. I'm both,
that old man of sin and weakness and fear, and I am the man of
faith. Both men are really me. And there
are moments in our day, you go through the day, you know how
it is, you feel such peace in your heart, trusting Christ,
don't you? And shortly thereafter, you find
yourself so full of fear you can't hardly move. That's every
day for us, isn't it? What am I going to do in those
days? Trust in the Lord. He's the only one trustworthy.
Trust Him. We're not trustworthy. The kings
of this earth, the powerful people of this earth, they're not trustworthy.
But our God's trustworthy. You trust Him. You trust His
character. You trust His promises. You trust
His grace, His mercy, and His love. When we fear, trust the
Lord. Now, you know, there are times
fear is a good thing. There are things we ought to be afraid
of. We ought to be afraid of our sin damning us. When you
find yourself afraid like that, trust in Christ. Trust Him. Trust Him as a sacrifice for
your sin. We ought to be afraid of standing
before God naked, without any righteousness. If you find yourself
fearing that, trust in the Lord. Trust Christ your righteousness.
Often we're afraid of being apostate. Lord, is it I? Would I go away?
Will I deny the gospel? When you find yourself afraid
of that, you trust the Lord. Trust your God who holds his
people in his mighty hand and will not let them go. No man
can pluck you out of it and you can't jump out of it. Trust him. He will not let his people go. When that old man begins to whisper
to you, His charges are true. You begin to find yourself being
afraid. God's going to cast me off. He ought to. There's no
reason if I can see in me. He ought to cast me off. When
you find yourself fearing that, trust God. Trust His mercy and
His justice. God's not going to cast His people
off. He's merciful to them. And God won't cast His people
off because God's just. Justice has already been satisfied
for His people in the sacrifice of Christ. He's not going to
cast them out. It would be unjust to do it.
He killed His Son to put your sin away. He's not going to cast
you out. Just trust Him. Trust Him. And
then there are times we fear things that I guess people would say
we ought not fear. Let's not be up there in an ivory
tower. Let's get right down here where
we live. We fear them, don't we? And these fears are very
normal. We're a human being. These fears
are very normal. We find ourselves being afraid of death. When you
find yourself fearing death, trust in the Lord. Trust Christ
who already died for you. He took the sting of death away.
Trust Him that He's enough. There's nothing to fear. We're
afraid of losing our spouse, our wife, or our husband. You find yourself fearing that,
you trust in the Lord. He's your husband. He's your
husband. He'll take you up. He'll provide
for you. He'll keep you. When you find
yourself being afraid of losing your parents and being left an
orphan, And that can happen at any age. I mean, a little fella
or however old you are, nobody wants to lose their parents.
When you find yourself afraid like that, trust in the Lord. Trust God our Father. He'll take
you. He'll never forsake you. David
talked about that in one Psalm. I forget where it is. He said,
well, my mother and father forsake me. You're not talking about
them forgetting you to run off from you. They died. The Lord
took them. When my mother and father forsake
me, the Lord's not going to forsake me. Then He'll take me up. Trust
in the Lord. It seems like when I was working
out in the world, I spent most of my time worried about losing
my job. I mean, the company was either
on the verge of going bankrupt or I had some jerk of a boss
who just fired people at the drop of a hat. I mean, I spent
half my time afraid I'm going to lose my job. I've got these
babies and a wife to feed. I've got to take care of. Fearful. Happened twice. Happened twice. Suffer one day, not one day,
not one, not one. All those fears were wasted energy,
trusting the Lord to provide. He whose name is Jehovah Jireh
is going to provide. When you're afraid of losing
your health, trust the Lord. Trust Him to give strength for
your soul. Don't be acting a fool like David
did. Don't seek help where it's not
found. Seek help in the Lord. With the Lord as help, with the
Lord as strength, trust Him. Trust Him. You know, there are
countless things that scare us half to death right around the
corner. Every day, we never know we're going to just turn a corner
and run into one of them. And they're real fears. I mean,
they're things we're really, truly afraid of. Well, trust
the Lord. Faith trusts Christ. Faith trusts when real fears
are present. If there was nothing to fear,
we wouldn't need faith. Faith trusts when fear is present. So every day, flee to Christ. Every day run to Him. Every day
hide in Him and trust Him to be your shelter. That will remove
every fear. Look what David says in verse
11. In God have I put my trust. I'll not be afraid what man can
do unto me. Trusting in the Lord removes
those fears. So I thirdly, this is good everyday
theology. Get in God's Word. Read it. and believe it and trust it every
day. What made the Bereans more noble?
They read God's word, found out if these things be so. Well,
that's good, good everyday theology. Look at verse four. David says,
in God, I will praise his word. In God, I have put my trust.
I will not fear what flesh can do unto me. David says here he'll
praise God's word. And the word means to be clear.
Now let's be clear about what God says in His Word. If I'm
clear about what God says in His Word, I'm not going to fear
what the flesh, mine or anybody else's, can do unto me. Because
the Word clearly tells me, trust in the Lord, not in the flesh.
Trust in the Lord to provide your physical needs, not in the
flesh. Trust in the Lord to save your
soul, not in what the flesh can do. Trust the Lord. Let's be
clear about this now. If we clearly declare God's Word,
people trust it. It'll feed, it'll comfort God's
people. But this word praise, it also means to celebrate, to
boast about, rave about. Well, let's celebrate. Brethren,
let's boast and rave about God's Word. The message of God's Word,
if we do, if we hear it and believe it, I'm not going to fear what
flesh, mine or anybody else is going to do unto me. What does
God's Word say? God's Word clearly says salvation
is in Christ, not in my goodness. Then I'm not going to be afraid
of the badness and the sin of my flesh because I'm trusting
Christ, not what I do or who I am. God's Word says salvation
is by grace and not by works. Then I'm not going to be afraid
of how sinful I am. I'm not going to be afraid that I don't have
any good works because I'm trusting God's grace, not by works. And
the Word of God says if I'm trusting God's grace, I've got a good
hope. I have a good hope through what? Grace. Then trust it. God's Word reveals who He is.
God's holy. He's just. He's sovereign. He's
good, He's gracious. God's Word reveals who the Lord,
Jehovah is. He's God my Savior. The Word
tells us how it is God saves sinners in Christ. God my Savior,
through His obedience, through His sacrifice for His people,
by His death, His burial, His resurrection, His ruling, reigning
power. God help me, as long as I have
the power, I'm going to rave about that. I'm just going to
rave about salvation. I'm going to celebrate redemption
in Christ Jesus and not be afraid. How can I be afraid if I'm boasting
in the message of God's Word? If I'm celebrating the message
of God's Word, how can I be afraid? How can I? And we think, but
men won't listen to me. They won't listen to me. They
twist my words all up. Oh, it's so aggravating. Look
at verse five. Every day they rest my words. Men did the same thing to David.
They rested his words. They did the same thing to the
Lord Jesus, didn't they? He talked about raising the temple
of his body up in three days. And they said, this man has lost
his mind. He said he can rebuild Solomon's
temple in three days. And that's reason to crucify
him. They twisted his words. Where did it get them? Look at 2 Peter 3. Don't be deterred when men twist
and pervert the Word of God. They've always done it and they
always will. 2 Peter 3 verse 14. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that
you look for such things, be diligent, that you be found of
him in peace without spot and blameless. God's going to make
his people without spot and blameless and account that the long suffering
of our Lord is salvation. Even as our beloved brother Paul,
also according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written
unto you. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, how wonderful that is. Salvation
in the long suffering of our God. How he'd make his people
without blame, without spot. Read on verse 16. Everybody don't
love that. As also in all his epistles,
speaking in them of these things in which some things are hard
to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable
rest as they do also the other scriptures under their own destruction.
See, they're constantly resting and twisting the scriptures,
twisting them and perverting them out of their meaning. Well,
where'd that get them? Their own destruction. their
own destruction. God help us from not being unstable,
not being unlearned and not resting the scriptures, but taking the
scriptures as they are and believing them and resting in them. Verse
17. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing
you know these things before, beware, lest ye also being led
away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness,
but grow in grace in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. To him be glory. both now and forever. Amen. How
am I going to do that? How am I not going to be led
away with the error of the wicked? How am I not going to fall from
my steadfastness? How can I possibly grow in grace
and knowledge of the Savior? By being taught the word. That's
exactly how, by being given a good foundation. So get in it and
read it. Look back at our text, the rest
of verse five. Every day they rest my words. All their thoughts
are against me for evil. And we say, but all these enemies,
they're, they're resting my words and twisted them. They're they,
and they mean evil to me and it stresses me out. Well, what
does the word of God say? They meant it for evil. You're
right. They meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good. Now don't fear, but celebrate
that. Look at verse six. They gather themselves together.
They hide themselves. They bark my steps when they
wait for my soul. All these enemies gathered together
because they think they've got strength in numbers. And they're
always nipping right at my heels. I cannot get away from them. What does the Word of God say?
They did the exact same thing to our Savior, didn't they? They
all gathered together, didn't they? They all banded together,
both Jews and Romans. They all got together. They gathered
themselves together to do what they wanted to do. And when they
did, what happened? They accomplished God's eternal
purpose. They accomplished God's purpose of salvation through
the sacrifice of his son. Then I'm not going to fear him.
Are you? I'm not going to, I'm going to celebrate what God's
word says. They're not going to accomplish
what they want to do when they do what they want to do. All
they're doing is accomplishing the will of my father that I'm
going to celebrate his word. Look over at the back of Job
chapter five. David talks about these enemies
being so subtle. It's so smart. Boy, they are. Oh, they're subtle. It just astounds me how subtle
the enemy is. You've got to have, don't be
a serpent, but be wise as a serpent to deal with them. Oh, they're
so subtle, devious. I can't handle them. Look what
Job said, Job 5 verse 12. He disappointeth the devices
of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise. He taketh the wise in their own
craftiness, and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.
They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope in the noonday,
as in the night. That's what he does with the
subtle, with the crafty, with the wise. But, verse 15, he saveth
the poor from the sore. from their mouth, from the hand
of the mighty, so the poor hath hope, and iniquity has stopped
her mouth. Behold, happy is the man whom
God corrected. Therefore, despise not thou the
chastening of the Almighty, for he maketh sore. See, this is
not the wicked doing, this is not the crafty, this is God doing
this. He maketh sore, and he bindeth them. He woundeth, and
his hands make whole. He shall deliver thee in six
troubles, yea, in seven, There shall no evil touch thee." He
goes on there. Everything that's happening here
is all God's purpose. It's not the devices of the crafty. Their purpose is not going to...
They're just going to go headlong off the cliff. God's going to
save His people. He'll save the poor. He'll keep
them. That's what God's Word says. Now celebrate that. Can't we find joy and peace in
that? Look at verse 7 back in our text,
Psalm 56. Shall they escape by iniquity?
and thine anger cast down the people, O God." Now, David talks
about iniquity here. He's not talking about open sin,
because everybody knows open sin is not going to deliver us
from God. Everybody knows that. I don't care who they are. Everybody
knows that. The iniquity he's talking about
here is those things that we think we've done that are good.
Things we do to try to commend ourselves to God. That's what
God calls iniquity. Those things that we think are
righteousness, God says, they're filthy rags. And we think, but
this is what the religious world's doing. And they look so good. These legalists and these reformed
people. I mean, you watch them. They
look so good. They act so holy. It seems like
God's just heaping blessing upon them. Now, wait a minute. Wait
a minute. What does the Word of God say?
Our Lord ran across some folks just like that, the Pharisees
did. And what'd our Lord tell him? Matthew 23 verse 28. Even
so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within you're full
of hypocrisy and iniquity. Their outward show of goodness
is not going to save them. So don't try to be like them.
Celebrate what God's word says. God's word says salvation is
in Christ. Now trust him. Trust him to be
your righteousness. Trust him to cleanse us from
your sin. Trust Him who gave Himself for us, that He might
redeem us from all iniquity." I can celebrate that, can't you?
He redeemed His people from all iniquity. Here's something comforting,
verse 8. Thou tellest my wanderings. Feel like you're wandering around
most of the time? Just aimlessly wandering around. You know, this doesn't seem any
rhyme or reason to what's going on. I don't know if I'm where
I'm supposed to be. I don't know if I'm doing what
I'm supposed to be doing. Life just seems so confusing to me,
you know? What does the Word of God say? Reckon Joseph felt
the exact same way he's in prison? Joseph thought he knew what was
going on, and then after he spent so much time in prison, I bet
you he just thought, I don't know what's going on. I mean,
who can tell my wonderings? What does God's Word say? Steps
of a good man are ordered by the Lord. And that's about all
we ever quoted that in. Steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord. And he delighteth in his way. God delights in his
way. That I'm going to rave about
that. I'm going to celebrate that. I don't understand why
I am raving. I don't understand why all my
wanderings have brought me to this place, but I'm going to
celebrate this. I know I'm exactly where God ordained me to be.
And I can rest in that. That applies to my wanderings
and this applies to my sorrows. Look at the rest of verse eight.
Put down my tears into thy bottle. Are they not in thy book? There's
an old custom. Folks would have a tear bottle.
Someone was painfully sick or they were sorrowing and they
would go visit that person And they'd catch their tears in a
little bottle and they'd seal it up. I read about this week
how they'd find these little tear bottles in tombs and things,
you know. And they'd catch the tears in
a bottle and seal them up, kind of to seal up the sorrow, have
it to be a memorial for such a sad time. Well, David here
is celebrating the Word of God, even in his tears. You know why He's celebrating?
Because it's not just somebody, the Lord is going to put my tears
in a bottle. In my tears, in my suffering,
in my sorrowing, the Lord Himself personally is going to do this. He's got to be there personally.
He's got to touch you. He's got to be with you to catch
your tears and put them in a bottle. Now, I can celebrate anytime
I'm with the Lord. He visited me in a time of salvation.
He visited me to comfort me. I could celebrate that. David's
celebrating here because I'm going to have times of sorrow.
I'm going to have times of trouble and heartache. But what he's
celebrating is the Lord has promised he'll comfort his people. And
he'll not forget the sorrows of his people. He'll not forget
the suffering of his people. God has both a bottle and a book.
He's got a bottle to seal up the tears. And he's got a book
to remember the sorrows. So he won't forget. And you know
God won't forget. This is written in our language
to help us understand. God will comfort his people.
He's not going to forget them. He'll store up those tears because
they're precious to him. They're precious to him. His
heart is moved by the suffering of his people. So in due time,
he'll comfort them. And I'll tell you how He's going
to do it. By His Word. That's exactly how He's going
to do it. He's going to do it by His Word. Well, good, everyday
theology is to go to God's Word. That's good theology. I can celebrate
that. Alright, fourthly. Good, everyday theology is to
cry unto the Lord daily. Verse 9. When I cry unto thee,
then shall mine enemies turn back. This I know, for God is
for me. Now it sure seems like the enemy
retreats every time I cry unto the Lord. I know this, they never
retreat unless I cry to the Lord. Is that right? It would be wise,
good everyday theology to cry unto the Lord daily. Cry to him. It doesn't have to be an intelligent
cry. Just cry to him. He knows And that's comforting
to me, because I don't know a lot. I mean, I just don't know. I
used to think I did, but now I know I don't. But by God's
grace, I do know some things. By God's grace, I know some things.
But I find that more and more and more often, I say, I don't
know. I don't know what's going on.
The longer I live, the less I know why people do what they do. Wednesday, I was sitting and
talking to Brother Fortner, and he said, human beings are the
strangest people there are. That's pretty good. The longer I live, the less I
know why people do what they do. The longer I live, the less
I know why God's doing what he's doing. I used to think, I know
what God's doing. Now I know better. No, I don't.
But now listen, what I don't know does not make what I do
know not true. Jay and I live down there in
downtown Russell, and they recently built a new bridge. I mean, the
thing's spectacular. I mean, it's just utterly spectacular.
And I take a walk sometimes and look at that bridge and think,
how did anybody ever think I'm going to build a bridge that
looks like this across the Ohio River. I mean, why did anybody
ever think that? I mean, if it had been up to
me, we'd have been on ferries forever. I never, ever, ever
would have thought I could build that bridge. I mean, in a million
years, I wouldn't. I don't know how to calculate the tension
and strength of steel and concrete. I don't know anything about arches. I don't know how all those cables
hold. I mean, how are those cables holding that thing up in the
air? It's just utterly beyond me. How do they calculate no? One day that bridge is going
to be full of cars, and there's going to be a great big old windstorm
like there was today, and nothing's going to happen. How do they
know that? I got no idea. But Dan, I do know 2 plus 2 is
4. I do know that. And what I don't know doesn't
make what I do know not true. I don't know why Lord's doing
what He's doing. I have no earthly idea. I know two plus two is four.
I know salvation by grace. I know salvation's in Christ.
I know Christ is all my hope. And David makes a monumental
statement. I don't know what's going on, but this I know. God's for me. If I really believe that, that
God's for me, I'm not going to fear all those things I don't
understand. If God is for me, who can be against me? Let me
give you this briefly in closing. God is for me. What does that
mean? What does that mean to my everyday life? When was God
for me? Number one, God was for me in
eternity. In eternity, Almighty God wrote
my name Lamb's Book of Life, sealed it up and gave it to sin. If God's going to be for me now,
God can't change. Whatever, however it is, whatever
it is God determined to do in eternity, whatever it is He determined
in eternity is the way He is right now and the way He'll always
be because God cannot change. Number two, God was with me at
Calvary. He was for me at Calvary when
Christ died for me. In eternity, God wrote my name
in the Lamb's Book of Life. And now in time, He's not going
to blot my name out of it because the blood of Christ blotted out
all my sins. God at Calvary was before me
because He sent His Son. He sent the only suitable sacrifice
to the cross to die as my substitute. God's before me. Thirdly, God
was before me. And one day he sent the gospel
to me and gave me faith to believe it. Even though I rebelled against
it for so many years, count that the long-suffering of God is
salvation. He gave me faith to believe it. And then by his grace
and by his keeping power, he keeps me believing it. God's
a forerunner in giving, saving faith. God is for his people every day,
every day, in the darkest of night, most severe time. God is for me. These things are
painful. These things frighten me to death,
just like the disciples out in that little teeny tiny boat in
the middle of the raging sea. They thought they're going down.
They thought, buddies, this is it. Been nice knowing you. And
here comes the Lord walking on the water. He means these things for good,
and He's going to deliver His people right on time. He's using
us to teach us to trust Him more, to trust Him more fully. And
I will not understand what God's purpose in the trial is. But what I don't know doesn't
make what I do know not true. I know the end of it. I know
the end of it. because I know God's for me,
then I'm going to trust God. I'm going to trust him. I'm going
to cry unto the Lord daily and wait on him to deliver. Look
how David closes this Psalm verse 13. For thou has delivered my
soul from death. You saved my soul by your grace.
Will not thou deliver my feet from falling that I may walk
before God in the light of the living? Yes, he will. Yes, he
will. He's going to, whatever it is
he started, he's going to finish it. He's going to perfect it.
They cried to him and wait on him to do it. That's good everyday
theology. Let's bow together. Our God, how we thank you for
your word. How we thank you that you've given such sweet promises
of grace to your people. How wonderful it is that you
have given such precious revelations of your character that your fearing,
erring children can trust in Thee. Father, cause us to look
away from ourselves, to look away from what we've done and
all the good things we think we've done. Cause us to look
away from all those things we've done that are so bad we think
keep us from Thee. Cause us to look to Christ. Cause
us to come to Him. Cause us to cry unto Him daily.
Cause us to trust Him daily. Cause us to cry out for mercy
daily. Give us Your Word daily as our daily bread to comfort
and feed our souls. Father, thank You for Your Word.
I pray You'd bless Your Word to the hearts of Your people.
Father, use it to strengthen us as we go back out into the
world that's very real, very difficult. It's a world full
of sin and hatred and darkness. Cause these things to go with
us every day to strengthen our souls and draw us ever and ever
and ever and ever near Christ our Savior. For it's in his precious
name we pray and give thanks.