About a week ago, a week or so
ago, my great-grandson, two years old, came over to the house to
have lunch with us. But he kind of gets by what his
granddaddy fixes for him by way of a treat after we had our meal. He said, three. I said, what
you want? Ice cone bobo. That means an
ice cream cone bobo. So I went and got one of these
sugar cones, and he likes strawberry. So I got him a strawberry cone
in the kitchen. He's sitting in his chair in
the den. fix that strawberry cone, and
Doris had some real live strawberries in the refrigerator, those big
ones from Plant City, Florida. And I got one of those and fixed
his cone, and I took that strawberry and put it right smack on top
of it, took it to him, and his eyes got that big. He said, he
doesn't say much. He said, wow. That's the way I just felt. when
my favorite singer sang my favorite song before my favorite congregation
and all I got to say is wow. That's a treat. That's a special
treat. All right, let's open our Bibles
this morning to the book of Psalms, Psalm 70. This is a very, very
special psalm. And I've got a special title
for the message for this special congregation. The title of the
message is A Psalm of Praise for a Time of Trouble. A Psalm
of Praise for a Time of Trouble. Now this is the Psalm of David.
You notice up there at the, at the, small letters here, a psalm
of David. David wrote this psalm. The Spirit of God inspired him
to write these words, but they were his words. I can't explain
that. I know the Spirit of God inspired
David to write these words, but they were his words. They were
words he felt. They were words he experienced,
and they were words he lived until he died. This is David's
psalm. But this psalm also is a Messianic
psalm. What does that mean, preacher?
Well, it's a psalm of Christ. It's Christ speaking. It's our
Lord Jesus Christ speaking. These are the words of Christ
himself. Look down here at verse 6. Sacrifice an offering thou didst
not desire. Mine ears hast thou opened, burnt
offerings and sin offerings hast thou not required. Then said
I, Lo, I come. That's who's talking here now.
I come in the volume of the book. It's written of me. I delight
to do thy will. O my God, and your law is within
my heart. I know who's talking here. It's
David, but it's David's son, the son of David, our Lord Jesus
Christ. But you know, as I read this
psalm, it was David's psalm, I know that. This is our Lord's
psalm. This is my psalm. This is right where I need for
God to speak to me right now. This is my psalm. This is not
only my psalm, this is your psalm. This is a psalm of praise for
a time of trouble and a people who are going through a time
of trouble. Look down at verse 16 and 17. Let all those that seek thee
rejoice, that's us, and be glad indeed. Let such as love thy
salvation, that's us, say continually, the Lord be magnified, but I'm
poor and needy. How many times does David say
that in the book of Psalms? I'm poor. And he's the richest
man in the world at that time, but he knew he was poor and needy.
And he said, I'm poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me.
Thou art my help and my deliverer. Make no tarrying, O my God. All right, let's look at it.
Psalm 40, verse 1, I waited patiently for the Lord. I waited patiently
for the Lord. Why shouldn't we wait for the
Lord? You know, David said, I say, wait on the Lord. Be of good
courage. You'll strengthen your heart.
Wait, I say, wait on the Lord. Why should it be difficult for
us to wait on God? Are you having any trouble waiting
on God? Waiting for the Lord to show his hand or do his will
or accomplish his purpose. We shouldn't have to wait on
the Lord, but we do. We must. He's King of kings and
Lord of lords. He decrees all things. He designs
all things and he does all things for our good and for his glory. Why shouldn't we wait? As long
as he requires, let's wait. Secondly, our Lord doesn't owe
us anything. Why shouldn't I wait for Him?
He doesn't owe me anything. It's a marvel that He's even
mindful of us. Why not wait for the Lord? He's
all wise. Everything He does is good for
us and is accomplished for His glory. He's all wise. Nothing good will he withhold
from them that love him. And the fourth thing, why shouldn't
I wait on the Lord? Nobody ever waited in vain. That's
what he says here. I waited patiently. It takes patience. I waited patiently
for the Lord, waiting not for a man, Not for a man to do anything,
waiting on God to do it. I waited for the Lord and He
inclined unto me and He heard my cry. And He will. And He will. But let me tell
you two things. Here's where we have our trouble.
Here's where I have, I'm not going to say you, but where I
have my trouble waiting on God. There's two things I've got to
learn and learn well in waiting on God. The first one is remembering
who I am and remembering who he is. Why shouldn't I wait? Remembering who I am and remembering
who he is. How long will a real beggar stand
outside when he knows without a doubt that the only one who
can open the storehouse is Joseph? The only one who can open the
storehouse is Joseph. How long will you wait? I'm going
to wait and wait and wait and wait until he opens the storehouse. And nobody ever waited in vain.
Never did. We need to learn four things
about this waiting on God. I read this somewhere. I don't
know. But we need to learn these four things. When will God, when
will God hear our prayer, incline his ear and minister to us what
we need? Number one, when the trial has
accomplished its purpose. Let patience have its what? Perfect work. Wait till God finishes
what he's doing. Just wait on God. And when the
trial accomplishes its purpose, the Lord will incline His ear
and you'll hear our cry. Secondly, when we have been sufficiently
shut up to faith, let Him ask in faith, nothing
wavering. If you don't ask in faith, you'll
not receive anything. We've got to believe God. Abraham
believed. He believed God. He didn't know
where God was taking him. He believed God. He didn't know
why these conflicts were taking place. He didn't know how that
God would send him a son when he's a hundred years old. He
just believed God. And when we sufficiently come
to that place where we really believe God, he'll hear and he'll
respond. And I'll tell you this. When
the Lord can get all the glory, that's when he'll incline his
ear. That's when he'll bless us, when he gets all the glory.
Gideon says, I don't have enough men. The Lord said, you got too
many men. You got too many for me to get
the glory. And then fourthly, this is so
important. This is one of the most powerful
things I've ever read. God will incline his ear. He'll
hear our cry when his purpose for us is accomplished, when
we've been sufficiently shut up to the Lord in faith, when
God can get all the glory and when God Almighty's purpose is
fulfilled for everybody that's involved in this conflict, not
just me, not just you, when everybody that's involved in it, When everybody's
involved with it, when God accomplishes their purpose, His purpose for
them, He'll hear our cry. That's just so. Oh, and look
at the second verse. I waited patiently for the Lord.
He inclined to me, heard my cry when it brings Him the glory.
He has blessed us so much. He has blessed us so much all
through these years. He brought us up out of a horrible
pit. Look where he found us. Look
where he found you and me. And he brought us up. He brought
us up out of a horrible pit, the pit of sin. He brought us
up out of a dungeon. He brought us up out of the miry
clay. Miry clay. He brought us up out
of the pit of sin. By one man's sin entered this
world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men. You hath
he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sin. He brought
us up. He brought us up. And then it
says here, he brought me out of a horrible pit. What kind
of pit? A horrible pit. The pit not only
of sin, but of false religion. That's where I was back in 1940,
30 and 40. I was in the pit of free willism. I was in the pit of a false religion. And he came where I was and became
what I am, paid the debt I owed and brought me up out of a horrible
pit of sin and the fall of my father Adam. and brought me out
of false religion. In 1950 in Ashton, Kentucky,
I heard Ralph Barnard tell the truth about God, and the truth
about me, and the truth about Christ, and the truth about the
gospel, and I was ecstatic. You just can't believe how happy
I was to hear that gospel. He brought me up, up out of a
horrible pit of free will. And he brought me also out of
the pit of self-righteousness. Not all of it now, but most of
it. Old Brother Scott Riches and
I were over in North Carolina in a meeting. There was a preacher
there preaching with us, the three of us. He was Brother Cold
Iron. Brother Scott preached a good
message on self-righteousness and Brother Coldiron said that's
a good message, Brother Scott. Brother Scott said, boy, he sure
takes all that self-righteousness out of us, doesn't he? He said,
not all of it, Principal. Not quite. But he brought me
out of a horrible pit and set my feet on a rock. Look at this. He brought me out
of a horrible pit, out of the fiery, clay, slippery slide,
and set my feet on a rock, the rock Christ Jesus. I couldn't
stand. I wasn't settled. I wasn't sure,
but now I'm sure. Now I'm sure. My feet are on
the rock Christ Jesus, and I'll never be moved. Oh, the wind
will blow. It does, doesn't it? And the
rain will fall. Somebody said into everybody's
life a little rain is going to fall. And the floods may rise and beat
on our house. And my knees may shake. And my arms grow weary. And my
mind not always clear about all these things, being perplexed,
But my feet are not moving. They're on the rock. The wind
will blow me, move my head, all these, but not my feet. I'm planted
on the rock, Christ Jesus. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All of the ground is sinking
sand. I told Brother Frank about Brother Dan Parks. about an illustration
I think so good that there's an Irish brother years ago who
was preaching over in Ireland and big crowd and there was some
hecklers there and they wanted to interrupt his preaching. He's
preaching the gospel and they wanted to interrupt him and he
kept saying, tell us about the shamrock. You know what the shamrock,
that Irish symbol. Tell us about the shamrock. He
ignored him, went on preaching. Tell us about the shamrock. Finally,
he stopped. He said, on Christ the solid
rock I stand, all other ground is shamrock. That's it. When you're on Christ the rock,
he establishes your goings. Isn't that what it says? He established
my going, my direction. Now, when I was in the Navy and
overseas on a ship, I stayed on a ship almost two years, and
different places, and we'd anchor. That old ship would anchor. It
was a flat-bottom LST, and it moved off. You know, the sea
never sits still. It's always moving. wind blowing,
tires moving, but we dropped the anchor down on a rock, and
that anchor would get hold of that rock or that dirt, and that
ship would stand there. It wouldn't go forward or backward,
but it would turn. The wind blows it. The wind blows
the ship. Sometimes I'd be looking east,
and after a while, the ship would turn completely around. I was
looking west. But that anchor never moved.
And sometimes I'm looking east and sometimes I'm looking west,
but I'm always on the rock, Christ Jesus. Anchored. Anchored on
a rock. And I may disturb my ship, but
it never goes anywhere. Always on the rock, Christ Jesus.
Oh, let's read on here. In verse 33 he said, and he put
a new song in my mouth. He put a new song in my mouth. Oh my. A song has words. A song has words. A song is not
idle chatter. I think a lot of the music I
hear today is nothing in the world Idle chatter, I can't understand
what they're talking about. Baby, baby this, baby that, maybe
something else, you know. But that's not a song. A song
has words, not idle chatter. A song has words, not empty shouting. A song has words. It's not a
strange behavior, somebody acting a fool. It's a song of praise. It's a song to the glory of God. to the mercy of God, and he put
a new song in my mouth. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy. It's
a new song. A new song, preachy, yep. It's
a song about a new covenant in Christ Jesus. That's what David
said. He made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things and sure. That's the song I sang
about the new covenant in Christ. He's put a new song in my mouth
and revealed to me a new way through the veil, that is to
say, His flesh. He's made me a new creature in
Christ Jesus. We have a new nature, not an
old nature. I'm not a Reformed Baptist, I'm
a regenerated Baptist. Christ in you, that's the hope
of glory. Christ is in us, in you. We never have sinned since Christ
was born in us. That's right. Not to new nature. No, sir. A new creature in Christ
Jesus and he gave me a song about a new heaven and a new earth. Let me tell you about it. Turn
to the book of Revelation a minute, chapter 5. Revelation chapter
5. Here's that, here's that new
song. Here's that new song. Everybody here sings this new
song. Revelation 5 verse 9. Listen. And they sung a new song,
saying, Thou art worthy to take the book. and to open the seals
thereof, for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by
thy blood out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation, and
hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign
on the earth." That's the new song that he's put in my heart
and in my mouth. Look at verse four. Blessed is
that man. Blessed is that man that maketh
the Lord his trust. Blessed is that man. My dad,
my dad, I was raised sort of poorly and without any religious My dad
was a railroad man and a drinker until the Lord saved him. And
the Lord saved him, revealed the gospel to him. I don't know
how old I was, I guess 10 or 12 or so. And he bought me a
Bible. And he turned in that Bible to
one verse of scripture. and underscored it in red and
gave it to me. My dad was a man of few words,
but he gave me that Bible and he said, you study that, you
study and learn that passage of scripture. And this is what,
this was a scripture, John 5, 24. John 5, 24, he says this, barely,
barely I say unto you, I say to you, Whomsoever I say
to you." He didn't say, I say to the Israelites or to the Gentiles,
to you. He that heareth my word, heareth
my word, and believes on him that sent me, hath, hath, right now, everlasting
life. Just like the thief on the cross,
when he believed, When he heard the Word, believed on Christ,
he has everlasting life and shall not never come into condemnation. Why? Because he's already passed
from death to life. Isn't that a powerful Scripture?
Verily, verily, surely, surely, truly, truly, I say to you, he
that hears my Word and believes on him that sent me has That
means, got it, hath everlasting life and shall never come into
condemnation, never be held accountable because he's already passed from
death unto life. One old writer said, I may be
as poor as Lazarus, I may be as afflicted as Job, I may be
as lonely as Elijah, I may be as helpless as Jonah in the whale. I may be as hated as Apostle
Paul. But if God may fart me, who can
be against me? I have everlasting life. Blessed is that man. Blessed
is that man that makes God Almighty his trust and believes God. Rest in God. Blessed is that
man. And look at that next line, and
respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. Blessed is that man who trusts
God and respecteth not the proud and does not turn aside to lies. Blessed is that man who doesn't
cringe before the world. Blessed is that man who doesn't
cater to the world, to the proud and to the rich. Blessed is that
man who will not lie, who will not lie. He will not, he will
not turn aside to lies. He won't lie and he won't believe
a lie. I read one time years ago, that
the mighty men of David's army, back in those days they fought
with swords and shields, and the mighty men in David's army
carried their shields. What is a shield? The shield
of faith is the Word of God. That's what we carry, the Word
of God, the shield of faith. And the mighty men of David's
army, carried their shields with great pride and great honor because
their shields were stamped with the family crest and with the
family colors and they carried them in the name of the family.
And they had a saying, this was the saying, carry your shield,
the shield of faith, carry it with honor and bravery in victory
or else be carried home on your shields, but never, never cast it aside,
sell out to the enemy, run from the conflict, or turn aside the
lies. Blessed is the man that trusts
God, that believes God, makes the Lord his trust. and respecteth
not, doesn't cater, or cringe, or fall, or run from the conflict,
nor turn aside to lies." Blessed is that man. Blessed is that man, woman. Verse
5, listen now, listen, oh, so carefully. Oh, so carefully. Somebody said
one time, in the last two or three years that Brother Mahan
got soft on the gospel. Something like that. Well, just cast that aside. Here, I want you to listen carefully
here, real carefully. Many, O Lord, my God. are thy
wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which
are to usward. They cannot be reckoned up in
order unto thee. If I would declare and speak
of them, there more than can be numbered. Many, O Lord, are
thy wonderful works which thou hast done." Creation. Wonderful
works of God. The heavens declare the glory
of God. The firmament showeth his handiwork.
Oh, the wonderful works of God. The works of his providence.
The work concerning the nation Israel. Israel is a mighty, powerful,
powerful illustration for us of God Almighty's
works concerning that nation. The dividing of the sea. plagues
in Egypt, the Passover lamb, the exodus when they came out
of Egypt and went to the promised land. Oh, wonderful works of
God, wonderful works of God. But verse 6 tells us the greatest
work of God, the most wonderful work of God. Here it is. This is God's greatest glory.
This is God's greatest work, sacrifice and offering. Thou
didst not desire. All of the sacrifices offered
on Jewish altars and all the rivers of blood, God never had
any pleasure therein. They were types and pictures,
but God never had any pleasure in them, never did. Only the
blood of the Lamb will suffice. Sacrifice and offering thou didst
not desire. In mine ears hast thou opened.
My ears hast thou digged. You remember the old, the old
bond slave? He served in, in his master for
seven years and then after the seven years, he was free to go,
free to, to go free. Just go free. And he came to
the, to the master and he said, bore my ear with an awl. I don't want to, the only freedom
I have is to serve you. Just bore my ears and I'll be
a bond slave, a living, wonderful, loving bond slave the rest of
my life to you. And that's what the Lord Jesus
says here. My ears hast thou digged, Lord, my ears. His ears are open to the words
of his father. burnt offerings and sin offerings
hast thou not required. Oh, here's the offering. Here's
the sin offering. Here's the lamb. Then said I,
Lo, I come in the volume of the book that's written of me to
do thy will. Oh, my God. That's God's greatest
Word. The incarnation of Christ, redemption
by His precious blood and divine obedience, the resurrection of
Christ from the dead and his ascension to glory, the regeneration
of his people and the conversion of his people and the preservation
of his saints unto glory. Here is God's greatest work,
the salvation of sinners by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Turn to Hebrews 10. This word, is here in the Old Testament,
in the book of Psalms, David wrote that word. Now, look at it here in the book
of Hebrews, chapter 10. Sacrifice and offering, now,
this is not required and so forth. Now, look at Hebrews 10, verse
5. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, he said, this is Christ. Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst
not, but a body hast thou prepared me, the man, God-man. In burnt
offerings and sacrifice for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Where
did God's pleasure, where did God find pleasure? This is my
beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. That's God's pleasure. Then said I, lo, I come in the
volume of the book. It's written of me to do thy
will, O God. Above, when he said, sacrifice
and offering and burnt offerings and offerings for sin, thou wouldst
not neither have any pleasure thereof which are offered by
the law. Then said I, then said Christ, lo, I come, I come to
do thy will, O my God. He takes away the first, the
first Adam, the first sacrifices, the first Passover lamb, the
first prophets, take away the first. and establishes a second
Christ Jesus. By which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily
ministering, offering all times the same sacrifices which can
never take away sin, but this man. Here's our gospel. Here's our good news. This man,
after he had offered one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down, having
finished his work on the right hand of God, from henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one
offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. That's our gospel. That's our
gospel. Back in 1947, they called me
as pastor. I was a Southern Baptist then,
and free will religion. But I was going to school. I
was trying to get to be a preacher by going to school, you know.
And they called me to pastor this little church out in the
country in Chattanooga. And a friend of mine called Paris
Reedhead. was a missionary to Sudan interior
in Africa. And he came to hold a meeting
for me at that little Oakwood Baptist Church in Chattanooga.
And he told me this story. He said, when I was in Africa,
I was out on a trek, they called it, go into the jungle and the
natives would, take them into the jungle to preach to the other
native tribes. And he and his friend and then
several natives were going through the jungle, making their way
through the underbrush and growth and so forth. And they stopped.
They heard a voice. And they all stopped. And it
was a native in the native tongue up ahead. who was crying, help,
somebody help me, somebody help me. Well, they just quickened
their pace, you know, and started running to get closer and closer
to where they heard that voice. And finally, he said he walked
into a clearing and there on the ground was a leper. A leper and he was in the last
stages of leprosy. He's holding up his skinny arms
and his hands were all, fingers were all eaten off and he's looking
up out of the slits that used to be eyes and his whole face
was nothing but an ulcer, a sore. And he said, I couldn't move.
I just looked at him. He said, help me. Somebody help
me. And he said, I thought to myself,
that's me in my sin, the leprosy of sin. Helpless, hopeless, doomed
and damned. Christ Jesus, I stand here healthy,
strong, able. You know, if I could reach and
take hold of those fingerless hands, one in one hand, one in
the other, and lift him up and pull him up against me and put
that ulcer face right in against my face and my healthy body against
his sinful, evil body and let my Life flow into him and his
death flow into me. He said, Brother man, that would
be what Christ did for me. Took my place. Took my guilt
and sin and shame. That's what our Lord did on that
cross. He was made sin. He wasn't playing a game. That's
the reason why he died. He died under the curse of sin.
That's why He died. He was made sin for us. Our sins
were transferred to Him and His life was transferred to us. He
was made sin that I might be made righteous. And he said, that's what Christ
did for me. That's the gospel. That's the gospel. That's the
gospel. Look at my text again, Psalm
40. Lo, I come. I come and the volume of the
book is written of me. Verse 7, verse 8. I come, I delight
to do thy will, O my God. Thy law is in my heart. I have preached righteousness
in the great congregation. And Lord Jesus preached righteousness. I have not refrained my lips,
O Lord, thou knowest. And look at verse 10, I've not
hid thy righteousness. I haven't hid it. No, sir, I
haven't. I've declared your righteousness. Look at verse 10, about five
words here. I've declared your faithfulness,
I've declared your salvation, I've declared your lovingkindness,
and I've declared your truth. That's what I've... For the last
fifty years, I've tried to declare those things like that. His righteousness,
His faithfulness, His salvation, His lovingkindness, and His truth. Now, the Lord says here, and
I'm going to quit. He said, I haven't hid this. I haven't hid this. I haven't hid these five things.
Righteousness, faithfulness, salvation, lovingkindness, and
truth. What is it to hide the truth? There are several ways. Number one, to hide the truth
is to conceal portions of it. Paul said, I've kept back nothing
profitable unto you. I've not shunned or declared
unto you all the counsel of God. So, man can hide the gospel and
hide concealing portions of it. That's what so many do. Secondly,
to hide the truth is to entangle it with human wisdom. That's dangerous. Paul said, I didn't come to you
with wisdom of words. I came to you with the simplicity
of Christ. You can hide the gospel by entangling
it with human wisdom. You can hide the truth by covering
it with flowery rhetoric and enticing words. That's what Paul,
he's afraid of that. He's afraid of flowery rhetoric
and enticing words of man's wisdom. Tell the truth. It's the simplicity
of Christ. Fourthly, to hide the truth is
to preach one truth at the expense of another. Isn't that right? Preach one
truth at the expense of another truth. To preach one truth out
of place, out of place is the whole truth
of God. And then to hide the truth is to give it forth in the letter
and not in love. I tried to learn that. I didn't
start. My ministry is loving as I should have. I'm
pretty tough. Some of you are smiling. Well, you've got a right to smile.
Yeah. The last number of years, I won't
say how many, but I've tried to see that you don't, The truth
of God and the righteousness of God, the wrath of man does
not work the righteousness of God. It doesn't do it. Arrogance
and the wrath of man and the harshness and unyielding, unyielding, willingness to give a little.
But you can hide the truth by preaching the letter and not
love. Facts without grace. Facts without grace. That's right. Facts without grace. Let me tell
you something here. A great artist. will labor alone
in his studio working on his life's masterpiece. And he'll
keep it covered and allow no one to see it until it's finished. Our Lord's purpose and kingdom
is hidden from all human knowledge but not from him. The true church
is being fashioned in secret The work of God in the death
of his Son and the calling of his people and the redemption
of his elect is hidden from human eyes. No one can say, lo here,
lo there. And when his bride is arrayed
in fine linen, clean and white, and it is said, blessed are they
which are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb, then all
of creation is going to view God's great masterpiece. It's
finished. Worthy is the Lamb. But he does
it when he pleases to whom he pleases according
to his good pleasure. Wait on the Lord. Oh, I waited
patiently for the Lord and he inclined his ear. and heard my
cry. I may not get to preach again
forever, but I want to tell you a story, a true story. I don't
think I've told that here at all. I may have. I can't remember. That's unusual, isn't it? This is a true story. About 20,
25 years ago, or maybe more, A friend of mine, I've known
him a long time, got a call from him just a few weeks, a few months
ago. Bob Mounce, that name sounds
familiar, big, tall preacher. He used to preach here for me
sometimes. We've held meetings. Bob Mounce. But he was pastor down in Louisville,
Mississippi, and he called me. I don't know if it was 25, 25
years ago. He said, Brother Henry, he said, Good news. He said, my, my daddy, Luther
Mounts, lives in West Virginia. He said, Brother Henry, my dad,
I guess, is one of the most crooked politicians in Logan County. Never had any use for the gospel
or anything. But he said, he is listening
to you on television. He and my mother, they live up
near Logan, Ritter Park then. He retired, but said, he's listening
to you on television. He likes what he hears. And he's
got cancer. And I don't think he's going
to live too much longer. Would you go visit him? Oh, I said,
Bob, I'd tickle to death. So, I went up to Cabell Huntington
Hospital and I found his room, Luther Mounts. He had a private
room. And I just pushed the door open
and he was standing over looking out the window, big tall fellow
like his son looking out the window. And I kind of cleared
my throat and he turned around. He said, you're the last man
I ever expected to see walk through that door. And he came walking over to me
and he hugged me. He said, I've been listening
to you preach the gospel. I believe God's revealed to me
the truth of the Gospel." I said, I'm thrilled to death. I guess
he was 70 some odd at that time. But we sat and talked a few minutes
and then I looked at him and I said, Luther, I said, let me
ask you something. Your son's a preacher and I'm
sure you've been to church. But here you are 70 years of
age and the Lord's never revealed the Gospel to you till today,
till this time. How do I explain that? How would
you explain it? You know what he said? Honestness
is a fact. He said, well, I was reading
the Scripture the other day and it said this, even so, Father,
it seemed good in thy sight. I said, that's it. That's it. Thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent and had revealed it to babe, even so
far that it seemed good in thy sight. So, wait on the Lord. Wait patiently on the Lord. You
worry about your children. Wait on the Lord. Worry about
this one. Wait on the Lord. You can't save
them, can you? No. God can't. He may, he will. That's right. Even so far, they
seem good enough. Well, I went back, I went up
to his house and visited some and then he died. And you know
what? That bunch of politicians and folks in West Virginia, I mean,
he was somebody, just a county court clerk and everything. They
filled that place and his wife asked me to preach his funeral,
believe it or not. Darcy and I went. And first thing
I said when I got up in front of him, looked out over, I didn't
know a soul except my wife and I, you know, all those West Virginians
and I said, you know, Some of you have known Luther Mouse a
whole lot longer than I have. In fact, I've just met him the
last three or four months. But I bet I know him better than
you do. I said, I know the new Luther
Mouse. I know the man God saved. I know the new Luther. And I've
talked to them about the gospel. There's a crowd up there, up
there in that one big West Virginia funeral home. And we got through. Darcy vowed, vouched for this. We got through and there wasn't
anybody spoke to me. Not a soul. Is that right, huh? Not a soul. Except Bob Mounts and his mother. They didn't want to hear that,
but Luther heard it. Because even so, Father, it seemed
good in thy sight. That's it. Thank you, Brother
John.