back in Psalm 27. I don't know when I've been more
blessed in the study of God's Word than I've been in the study
of this Psalm. Never realized how full it was. And even having said that, I'm
sure that I've only skimmed the surface. As I mentioned last
Sunday, I had a suspicion that we might not have time, and I
didn't want to wear you out to go through the whole psalm, so
we stopped around verse 7, I think. And we're going to work our way
down to that, just very briefly. And I hope that by God's grace,
as I was blessed in the preparation of it, that you'll be blessed
in the delivery of it. Pray that God will be pleased
to do that. along that line of preaching, hearing. I thought
of what we read in Matthew 14, Matthew's account of our Lord's
miracle of multiplying the fish and the loaves and feeding 5,000
men besides the women and the children. But there in Matthew
14 we read this. and he commanded, that is the
Lord, commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass and
he took the loaves and the two fishes and looking up to heaven
he blessed and break and gave the loaves to his disciples and
the disciples to the multitude. That's a good illustration. That's a good illustration of
preaching. gave the loaves to his disciples
and the disciples to the multitude." In verse 20 of that same chapter,
"...and they did all eat and were filled, and they took up
of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full." They were
all filled. They were all refreshed. May
God be pleased to do the same for us today. The title of my
message is again, Waiting Upon the Lord. You find those words
in verse 14 here in Psalm 27. David said it twice. He said
it twice, didn't he? Wait on the Lord, be of good
courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on
the Lord. I'm sure God the Holy Spirit
inspired David to repeat those words to you and I for several
reasons, but one I'm sure is this. We need to hear it. We need reminded of it. Because
it's at this very place we need to be reminded of waiting up
on God. Wait up on God. It's against
our nature. It's against this old carnal
nature that we yet possess that's not one whit better than it was
or when God saved us. Wait upon the Lord. Very briefly,
very briefly, let's look again at verse 1. And I know I'm repeating
a couple of things for you that were here last Sunday, but it'll
just be brief. Did you notice the title of this
psalm? Very simply it says, A Psalm
of David. A Psalm or Song of David. David was going through a heavy
trial, as was often the case. Someone well said, a believer
is either going into a trial or coming out of a trial, one
or the other, his whole life. David's enemies were many. He
makes mention of that as we read it, you noticed it. His enemies
were many and they were mighty. And they took dead aim at David. We're bringing him down. They
shot all their arrows at the king. They seek utterly like
they would do the son of David that followed him. They sought
his life. They wanted to destroy him. But,
but that didn't happen. He finds comfort. David finds
comfort as he tells us again and again in this psalm and so
many other psalms. He finds comfort where every
true believer must find their comfort. Where else would a believer
find comfort but in their God? That's how David begins the psalm.
The Lord. Lord. All capital letters. The Lord God Almighty. The Lord
lifted up above all. And David tells us here, not
in these exact words, but in the others, God gives songs in
the night. Is there not a believer here
that can say amen to that? If I would ask you to raise your
hand to that fact, that God has given you songs in the night,
every hand in here that knows the Lord would go up. And he's
done that just not once, he does it many times. He does it every
time. Oh, when the storms of life are
raging, he'd give us songs in the night. And all those songs
are the sweetest that have the smell of the dew of the rain
of heaven upon them. The Lord, verse 1. This is the
one David looked to. Just as he did in Psalm 121,
he wrote, I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills. From whence
cometh my help? My help cometh from the Lord. The Lord. Wait on Him. which
made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to
be moved. He that keepeth thee will not
slumber." We get drowsy. We doze off, but God doesn't. Aren't you glad of that? Aren't
you glad he's more alert than you are? Verse 4 of Psalm 121,
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. And that most familiar of Psalms,
The 23rd, verse 6, David says, surely. I like that, don't you? John, I like that. David speaks
matter-of-factly. I mean, we hear enough, woe is
me. I mean, we all spend enough time
wringing our hands and complaining. We talk about sovereignty and
yet during a trial we don't act like we believe God is sovereign
at all. But David says, surely. Surely. Without a doubt, goodness
and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will,
I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And that happened. If we could draw back the curtain
and look into heaven, David would be among that multitude before
the throne of God. That happened. Goodness and mercy
followed him all the way to heaven. And what David says concerning
himself is true of every child of God. God's mercy and grace
will follow us all the way to glory. David repeated that blessed truth when he lay dying. Now these be the last words of
David. David the son of Jesse said,
the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God
of Jacob, And the sweet psalmist, the sweet singer of Israel said,
although my house be not so with God, again we identify with that,
yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things
ensure this is all my salvation and all my desire. David's experience. This is why I'm sure we are so
drawn to the Psalms. We read them and we say, that
suits my case perfectly. That's me. I know what he's talking
about. I've been there. Verse 1. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? Verse
1. First comes light. Then comes
salvation. We're not saved in total ignorance. We're ignorant, as I may mention
in the article in your bulletin today. The example I gave there,
if that doesn't demonstrate how ignorant folks are, such foolishness,
good luck, God, oh, my soul. We're ignorant when God comes
to us, but we don't remain ignorant. He turns the light on. He teaches
us something, and the first thing when God turns the light on,
we realize the darkness that we have been engulfed in all
our life. We see our sinfulness. God reveals
it to us. It's necessary. It's called conviction
of sin, another one of the truths of God's Word that is just about
forgotten in our religious day. God gets men lost. Yes, he does. God gets men lost. If he doesn't, they'll never
know they're lost. God gets them lost. He shows
them their need or they'll never cry for mercy. He strips them. He strips them. He brings them
down before he lifts them up. strips them of that robe of self-righteousness
before he robes them in the perfect righteousness of his Son. Yes,
God is our light and our salvation. And in view of that, David asked
the question, whom shall I fear? Now think about that. Take that
with you. Ponder that. If God is my light,
and my salvation, whom should I fear? There's nobody really,
the truth is, I don't say that we don't, David did, but there's
nobody that we really need fear. I need not fear the power of
darkness. It just rubs me the wrong way
when I hear people talk about the devil as if he's God's rival,
as if he's God's equal. Oh, nonsense, nonsense. He's
God's devil, and he doesn't do anything unless God permits him
to do it. And everything he does redounds
to God's glory. He must be a frustrated being,
the devil, as Brother Bruce Crabtree said. I need not fear the power
of darkness because the Lord is my light. I need not fear
damnation. The law should fear damnation.
It's not a fairy tale. It's true. It's true. I need
not fear that, though, for the Lord is my salvation. Then whom
shall I fear? The second part of verse one.
The Lord is the strength of my life. Is that not a wonderful
expression? We like to thank us men especially,
that we're our own strength. You know, robust. Oh, what a
strong constitution. Is that the expression? And man,
it doesn't take nothing, next to nothing to bring us down,
make us realize how weak we really are. Ordinarily, we feel that,
but not spiritually. Our spiritual life lives by the
strength of God within the soul. Now think about that. Is that
not what the Lord Jesus said? Because I live, because I live,
ye shall live also. The same life. The same life. It's as certain as it is long. As long as Christ lives, I'll
live. And again, David asked, of whom
shall I be afraid? Who can stand against God? If
God be for us, Paul asked, who shall be against us? What strength
can resist his strength? What darkness can baffle the
light of God? What foes can prevent his salvation? If God Almighty is my light and
my salvation, of whom shall I legitimately fear? David leaves the broken
cisterns of the earth, which can hold no water, and goes directly
to the divine fountainhead. And he says, my Lord, my God,
my light, my strength, and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? If a man has light that can never
go out, a son which shall never set, a salvation which must always
be, and his God is all that and more to overcome to everyone
that trusts him, then what ground does he have to fear? The Lord
is my strength, the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be
afraid? If I live in Him and He lives
in me, who can kill me? Martha said not unto thee that
he that liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Blessed, blessed grace. Blessed
salvation. But more than that, blessed,
blessed Savior. Now look down at verse 7. here in Psalm 27. Let's look
at it together. David says, Hear, O Lord, when
I cry with my voice. Have mercy also upon me, and
answer me. In verse 6, he concluded by saying,
I will sing praises unto the Lord. And then he says, When
I cry with my voice, hear me. One moment he praises God, and
the next moment he's praying. And that's how it is in the life
of a true believer. We live by breathing in and breathing
out. We breathe in the atmosphere
of heaven in prayers to God. And then we breathe it out again
by praise to Him who hears and answers our prayer. Prayer and
praise make up the essentials of the Christian life, does it
not? And oh, may God give us more of both. Lord, teach us to pray. Teach
us to pray to disciples as prayer and praise go together. Verse
8, when thou saidst, seek ye my face, my heart, my heart. Brother Frank Tate, there's an
article by him, a brief, a short article in the bulletin today
about true prayer, about calling upon God, and he hears. Because
true prayer is from the heart, from the heart. My heart said
unto thee, thy face, Lord, will I seek. It's like an echo, isn't
it? We hear David use our Lord's
own words. When he said, seek my face, David
said, yes. Your face will I seek. Verse
9, hide not thy face far from me. Put not thy servant away
in anger. Thou hast been my help. Lead
me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation." The sharpest
trial. Again, every believer will bear
witness to this. The sharpest trial a Christian
can know is the feel. I said feel. It's a mistaken
feeling, but the feel that he's been forsaken of God. Is that
not so? Was that not the very height
of our Redeemer, our Savior, the Lord Jesus, was that not
the very height of the agony that He experienced on the cross
when He was deserted by His Father? But though we may at times feel
forsaken, don't trust that. No, trust God's Word. For this
very reason, that can never happen. That can never happen. For the
very fact that He forsook His Son, He forsook His Son on the
behalf of His people. And because He did, He won't
forsake His own. The same reason that we're made
the righteousness of God in Him. Because God made Him, Christ,
to be sin for us. One is just as true as the other. But I think what David prays
for here In verse 9 is the sensible presence of the Lord Jesus. That's what David longed for.
And I do too, don't you? Manifest yourself to us, O Lord. Make yourself known. Where two
or three are gathered in your name. Where just two or three
have come together, feeling their need of you. They want to worship
you. They want to honor you. We just
don't want to fill in an hour. We want to worship. Lord, make
us do it. Allow us to do it, otherwise
we won't. Otherwise, we will just fill
in the time and go our way. Oh, but Lord, manifest yourself
to us. Make yourself known. I know in our day there's a lot
of nonsense associated with mere feelings. The Pentecostal movement
is built on it. But oh, a true child of God,
they feel. salvation in the heart. When
they're forgiven of sins, they feel the joy of that. Lord, manifest
yourself to us. Let us never lose the light of
thy countenance, was David's prayer. We're rich when we're
in poverty. We're strong in weakness. We're
in good health, though we may be sick in body, when the Lord
manifests himself. Remember what he said in John
14? Just before he went to the garden where he was betrayed,
he said, my father and I will come to you. I won't leave you
alone. I'm going to manifest myself
to you. And one of them asked, Lord,
how are you going to do that? He said, not to the world, but to
you. How will you manifest yourself to us and not to the world? He said, I, my father, will come
into you. will make our abode with you. That's what David prays for.
This is grand praying, is it not, on David's part. He pleads
the past of God's mercy and grace as a reason to expect it for
the present. You have been my help. You've
been my help before, Lord. Don't leave me alone." David
uses it as an argument in his prayer why God would not forsake
him. Oh, God of my salvation. Sometimes
when you're cast down, going through trial, feeling alone
and lonesome, recollect what God has done for you in the past
and plead, Lord, do it again. Do it again. Lord, give me grace
not to trust my flesh or my feelings. You promised never to leave me
nor forsake me. I can fall down on that no matter
what I feel, no matter what I may be going through. When my soul
was burdened with sin, you alone helped me. And we went to everybody
else seeking help and couldn't find it. We thought to ourselves,
if we didn't say it to their face, you're a miserable comforter. Oh no, only God could grant that
precious grace. And when I passed through fierce
conflicts with the devil, with the world, with myself and this
flesh, I'm my own worst enemy. When I was sick and strength
failed me, God was a very present help in time of trouble. Lord, don't forsake me now. Many of us can look back on a
long life, most of us, and say to God of all of it, you have
been my helper. You have been my helper. And
this gives us a foothold in your present circumstances, no matter
what they might be. As old Newton put it, Newton
expressed this very thing. He said, through many dangers,
toils, and snares, I have already come. Disgrace has brought me
safe thus far. Is there any other explanation? Is there any other explanation
why you haven't cursed God as the devil told you to do and
die? Is there any other explanation
for you're not turning away and following the multitude? Multitude
in religious entertainment? Wow, wow. Will you also go away, our Lord
asked the disciples? Well, why haven't we? Why haven't we? Because his grace
has brought us safe thus far, and grace will lead us home.
Here I raise mine Ebenezer, we sing, hither by thy great help
I'm come, and I hope by thy good pleasure, safely too, arrive
at home. Verse 10, verse 10. and my mother
forsake me, then the Lord will take me up." Our fathers and
our mothers usually, not always, they're the first to love us
and the last to leave us. But if they do leave, if they
should for whatever reason forsake us, then Jehovah, David says,
will take me up. He will be to me both mother
and father. I love that picture, don't you?
Can you picture that in your mind's eye? You that are parents,
I know that you do. The Lord will take me up. What
a beautiful figure that is. The child is deserted. Picture that child. I mean, it's
helpless. It's helpless on its own, and
yet it's deserted. Mother's not there. Father's
not there, but then God, our Heavenly Father, reaches down in arms of absolute omnipotence
and takes us up. Squeezes us to his bosom and
whispers in his ear as he drives our tears away and says, don't
worry, don't worry, I'm here. I'm here. Though father and mother
forsake me, the Lord will take me up. Remember that precious
text. Much like this. This one in Psalm
27. Even to your old age, I am he. Even to whore hairs will I carry
you. We need carried, John. We need
carried. Say, oh, I'm not a babe. Oh,
yes we are. Yes we are. I will carry you,
you old ones as well as young ones. I have made you and I will
bear you. Even I will carry and will deliver
you. It's good to be left without
any earthly confidence. To be forced to cast ourselves
upon God. That's exactly right. I saw a
week or so ago a lady being interviewed on the news. And she had taken
it upon herself to help the veterans and those who were still in the
military. And she said the reason she done
that, the reason she became determined to do something was because of
a conversation she had with a soldier who was at that time back in
Afghanistan. This man had lost his child,
he had lost his mother, his wife had left And he told this woman,
I'm going back to Afghanistan. And it really doesn't matter,
because nobody will care. It doesn't matter what happens
to me, because nobody will care. A believer can never say that,
can they? Does he care? Does Jesus care? Oh, yes. Oh, yes, he cares. I know he cares. He's touched
with the feeling of my infirmity. There's a poor child, and his
father and mother have gone away and left him. But the Heavenly
Father again, I tell you, reaches down and picks him up, picks
him up, like you did your child. They're crying. Perhaps they've
wandered away from you in a store or somewhere. We've all had that
experience. And you find them, and they're just broken hearted,
scared to death. And you pick them up and say,
it's OK. I'm right here. I'm right here. And they just
snuggle up to you. They feel so secure now. Such a cozy feeling. And so it
is when we snuggle up in the arms of our Heavenly Father and
our Elder Brother. Oh, what a wonderful, wonderful
feeling that is. He saideth to pour on high, David
said in Psalm 107, I like this statement by Joseph Irons on
this verse. Psalm 107 verse 41. How high? He saideth the poor
on high. How high? Above the reach of
the curse, which shall never touch them. Above the power of
Satan, which shall never ruin them. Above the reigning influence
of sin, which shall not have dominion over them. above the
possibility of being banished from his presence, for Israel
shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation." In
Romans 9, Paul says, I'll tell you what, I'm telling you the
truth, God's my witness, I'm not telling you a lie, Paul wrote.
I have a continual heaviness and sorrow in my heart for Israel
that they might be saved. Any belief in God's sovereignty
that vanishes or is not accompanied
with a burden for the lost is a misunderstanding of sovereignty.
Who understood sovereignty? Who wrote more about it? Peter
even said Paul wrote some things hard to understand. But who dealt
with those things more than the Apostle Paul? And yet he said,
I could wish myself a curse from Christ for my brethren But then
he goes on down and he says, wait a minute, don't you misunderstand
what I just said? Don't you think for a moment
that I'm implying that God's word has not taken effect, that
it returns to him void? Then he goes on in chapter 7
and says, all Israel shall be saved with an everlasting salvation. Verse 11, teach me thy way, O
Lord. Teach me thy way, O Lord, and
lead me in a plain path because of my enemies. Make it clear,
David's asking. Make it clear what I ought to
do. Make it so clear that I'll do it, that I can't mistake it. Let me not try to excuse myself,
but may you make it so plain that I'll walk in it regardless
of my enemies. Lord, you show me your will. You reveal your will to me. You
teach me what you want me to do. You make it plain and I promise
you I'll do it. That's what David's saying. I
don't want to make a move until I'm sure. But when a believer
in such a circumstance seeks God's face, they're sure. God will make it plain to them.
Let me give you just an example of my own. When I felt that God
was calling me to preach. The main thing I wanted to know
was that it was God and not Larry. You would find it alarming or
surprising, perhaps you would, at some of the advice I got.
Oh, no. But I pray, God, you make it
plain. Don't let me go before you. Don't
let me take this upon myself. You make it plain. And I'll do
it. I'll do it. Mr. Spurgeon told
someone, a young man, that came to him asking advice about whether
he was called to preach or not. And Spurgeon said, well, the
best thing I can tell you is not do it if you can help it. And that's exactly right. You
can't help it. You can't help it. I'll tell you another example,
and then we'll move on. When you called me to be your
pastor, before you called me to be your pastor, I had thought,
I had concluded, leaning upon the arm of flesh, I had concluded
that God didn't intend for me to be a pastor. Man, I was 60
years old. And I just thought, and I thought
for sure I was right, that God just wanted me to fill in for
other pastors, as they would ask me, and quite a few did,
and I thought, I'm content with that. I'm content with that.
And I resigned myself to it, that that's how it would be.
Before you ever asked me to be your pastor, though, I was pretty
certain I was going to be. Because God was making... I never
told a soul. I never told nobody. Not Don
Fortner, not anybody. I kept it to myself. I prayed.
I prayed, God, you make this plain. And He does. Does He not? God has a way of
getting your attention, doesn't He? Verse 12, let's move along. Deliver me not over unto the
will of mine enemies, for false witnesses are risen up against
me, such as breathe out cruelty. Cruelty. I like what Mr. Spurgeon said about this. He
said, has anybody borne false witness against you? We'll be
very thankful that it's false. I do not quite understand why
they so often said, you see, it is such a downright falsehood,
and that is what grieves me so. But dear friend, it is much better
that it should be a false falsehood than true. If anyone brings an
accusation against you, I shall be glad to find that it's false.
God himself was slandered in paradise. The Lord Jesus Christ
was slandered, in whom was no fault. When he was up on the
earth, his apostles and followers in all ages had had the same
treatment. Sad but true. And David says,
false witnesses likewise has risen against me. Did our Lord
not tell us plainly, if the world hate you, know that it hated
me before it hated you. Verse 13. I had fainted. I had fainted unless I had believed
to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. I
had fainted. unless I had believed. We want
to reverse that, don't we? Let me see it and then I'll believe. No, David says, I believed. I believed to see the goodness
of the Lord in the land of the living. We sometimes want to
see and then believe. But remember what our Lord said
to Thomas. Jesus said unto him, because
you've seen me, you believe. Blessed are they that have not
seen and yet have believed. That's the point. That's the
point to be noted, is it not? Jesus said unto Martha again,
said I not unto thee, if thou wouldest believe, you'd see. Not the reverse. If you believe,
you'll see the glory of God. Verse 14. Let's skip down to
verse 14. The most needed for last, what
I need reminded of the most, Wait on the Lord, be of good
courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on
the Lord, because He's worth waiting on. He's worth waiting
on. God, help us to wait on Him for
our good and for His honor. I think I hear David say this
short sentence again because it needs repeating. Wait on the
Lord, be of good courage. David is saying I'm telling you
what I've experienced myself. And therefore, I tell you the
way on the Lord as I've done. That's why David repeats it.
One of the reasons. Take that burden to the Lord.
Go to the throne of grace where there is one who is touched with
those tears you shed. Is there a knot too tight for
you to untie? Is there a maze in which you
just can't find your way out? Go to the Lord. Wait on the Lord. Be of good courage and He shall
strengthen thine heart." The heart. The heart. The cenadela of the soul. When
a man loses heart, he's defeated. He's whooped. He's ready to throw
in the towel. A man that's lost heart, he's
a sad, sad sight, is he not? Our Lord said, let not your heart
be troubled. Your heart. Guard your heart. And the remedy for that, for
a troubled heart, you believe in God, believe also in me. Only the great physician has
the power, the skill, the ability to speak and strengthen the heart. Wait on the Lord. Be of good
courage and He will strengthen your heart. And I've learned
this, the hard way, the Lord is worth waiting on. And if you
don't, you'll wish you had. Is that right? Some of you are
shaking your head. You've been there, haven't you?
When you run ahead, when you take matters into your own hands,
when you confide in yourself and others instead of going to
your Lord, you'll wish you had of waited on Him. This is how
my father used to put it. Son, if you can't listen, you're
going to have to feed. And it never felt good. But I
didn't forget it. This is what we read in Hebrews
chapter 12. Have you forgotten the exhortation
which speaketh unto you as unto children? My son, despise not
the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of
him. It's good for us at times to
be sick of trusting men. I'm just tired. I'm sick and
tired of trusting men. I'm worn out. with leaning on
the arm of flesh, mine or yours, instead of leaning on the everlasting
arms of my God. Because we should have been doing
that in the first place, but it's just another weakness of
our sinful nature. We go to everybody, but God.
What should I do? What do you think? What would
you do? Instead of going to God, we do this. And it calls us this. Oh, what peace we often forfeit.
Oh, what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything
to God in prayer. We've carried it to everybody
else. Instead of this, oh, it is so sweet to trust in Jesus,
just to take him at his word, just to rest upon his promise,
just to know, thus saith the Lord. He shall strengthen thine
heart. Isaiah chapter 40, verse 26. Lift up your eyes on high, and
behold, who hath created these things? Go out tonight. Look up. That big, beautiful
moon. Those stars that all the scientists,
they don't have a clue. They can't begin to tell you.
They're infinite. God says, lift up your eyes and
look at that. And don't stop with the creation. bow down to the Creator, the
one who did all that. Lift up your eyes and behold
who has created these things that bringeth out their host.
By number he calleth them all by names, by the greatness of
his might, for he that is strong in power, not one faileth. Let me, and I'm gonna wrap this
up, but I want to share just a few brief sentences that I
read along this line by a man. I've never heard of before, Rufus
Wheelwright Clark. He wrote this in 1853. On this text, Psalm 103, verse
19, the Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens, and his
kingdom ruleth over all. 1853, he wrote. With the aid
of telescopic power, we discover the immensity that is crowded
with worlds and systems, of which before we had no knowledge. And
that this earth, instead of being the central portion of God's
dominions, to which all that is visible in the heavens is
tributary and secondary, is in fact but one amid billions and
billions of worlds, which vastly surpass it in magnificence and
splendor. We discover that the universe
is of such an extent that this earth, with its islands and continents
and oceans, is but a speck. A speck, the loss of which would
be no more would be no more felt than the removal of a single
grain of sand from the seashore. In our attempts, he wrote, to
comprehend the extent of this empire, we are not only utterly
baffled, but we perceive it stretching away in every direction towards
a mysterious infinity. And the impression is made upon
the mind that it is absolutely boundless. And I like this most
of what I read by this man. has been advanced that it may
be the creator's design to excite the wonder and sustain the adoration
of his subjects by the views of the magnitude of his kingdom,
the boundaries of which no finite mind will ever comprehend." I
like that, don't you? This is how the hymn writer put
it. When I, in awesome wonder, consider
all the worlds Thy hands have made, I see the stars, I hear
the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed. But brothers and sisters, you
know, the greater wonder is not of God's creation, but of God's
grace. When I think, when's the last
time you got alone? and turned off that cell phone.
Who cares what they were saying on Facebook. Got alone with God
and considered this. When I think that God his son
not sparing sent him to die, I scarce can take it in. That
on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, he bled and died to
take away my sin. My soul You know, it says concerning
Abraham, concerning the promise of a son, that he staggered not
at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith,
giving glory to God. I want to do that, don't you?
Oh, Lord, increase my faith. It honors you. And unbelief does
the opposite. Mr. Fortner said this, nothing
is more painful to a devoted father than the sense that he
is not held in honor and esteem by his family. Let us ever ascribe
the greatness of our God and hold our Father in the highest
honor and esteem as our Father. Someone said that faith is simply
a refusal to panic, come what may. It is so sweet to trust
in Jesus. Galatians chapter 3, I'll read
these four verses and wrap this up. Galatians 3 and 1, if ye
then be risen with Christ, Seek those things which are above,
where Christ setteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection
on things above, not on things of the earth. For you're dead,
and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our
life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory. When He shall appear, not if. Then, not if, we shall appear
with Him in glory. Then, Then, oh my soul, what
rapture. Like Brother Lord told me one
night sitting at the house, oh Larry, when we see him, what
are we going to do? Are we going to laugh? Are we
going to cry? Are we going to dance? Are we going to melt down?
What do we do? I said, Brother Lord, my imagination
won't reach that far. I don't know. I don't know. What
rapture will the redeemed in heaven gaze upon with the splendors
of their exalted and matchless Words fail me. In our attempts to describe the
emotions of the soul, when it shall view for the first time
their Savior. Oh my. Oh my. Oh glory, oh glory, what music,
what light, what wonders break in on my heart and my sight.
I come, blessed spirits, I hear you from high. O frail, faithless
nature, can this be to die? Well, this is not too bad. So
near, what, so near to my Savior and King? O help me, you angels,
His glories to sing. Until that glorious day dawns,
until then, wait upon the Lord. Be of good courage, and He shall
strengthen thy heart. Wait, I say, upon the Lord. God bless you.