We consider these verses for
a few minutes this morning. I've known a lot of preachers
through the years who might near kill themselves
trying to change the hearts of people. And they tried everything
under the sun to do it. And under the load, many have
had heart attacks. nervous breakdowns, all sorts
of emotional problems, physical problems. I've known two or three personally
who were so defeated, so depressed over their seeming failure to
make a difference in the hearts of people, so low they took their
own lives. Preachers, I'm talking about. And only a fool would assert
that those men were not God's men. Given the circumstances, none
of us know what we do in this situation or that situation. I do know that every God-called
preacher and every truly regenerated person has a jealousy in our
hearts for the glory of God. Now, many of us like Elijah don't
know exactly how to exercise that jealousy, but it's there. Paul did. He said to the Corinthians,
I am jealous over you. with a godly jealousy. I want my God to be glorified
in your lives. And I want him to be glorified
in my life. So this morning, as we come to
the end of another year, it is good. It is really good. And
it is healthy. to reflect on the mercies of
God, the goodness of God to us all. Note with me the mentions
of mercy in this passage where we began reading verse 7. The
psalmist says, I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy. I may not see a lot to be glad
about in this world, but I do delight in God's mercy to me. And I would say to you this morning,
to anyone, however good you've done or however bad you've done
in this world, I want to make it clear, if you
have any hope in anything other than the mercy of God, I don't
want your hope. Because that's all I have. I hadn't been perfect. And I want to say that it's not
important that you die rich. It's not important that you die
famous. It's not even important that
you die successful in men's eyes. But it is important that you
die trusting absolutely nothing but the mercy of God. in Christ. That's all. That's all. And then
when we stopped reading verse, uh, I don't think we read on
this far verse 16, the end of the verse, save me for that mercy's
sake. And the save there does not mean
regeneration to be born again, to become God's child. David
was God's child. But the word save here, as it
does many places in the scripture, means deliverance. Deliver me
for thy mercy's sake. Not because I've earned it, not
because I deserve it, but for thy mercy's sake. They used to sing that old song
years ago. If anyone makes it to heaven,
Lord, Surely I will and then that was the course surely I
will Lord surely I will If anyone makes it all the way home Surely
I will how foolish that is Everybody that's going to make it has already
made it But it had nothing to do with us We've made it in the
Lord Jesus Christ Salvation is not this from him salvation is
in him And of Him, and is Him, Christ is our salvation. Then in verse 9, another mention
of mercy. Have mercy upon me, O Lord. And then he gives the reason. For I am in trouble. Here's my reason for appealing
to God for mercy. I'm in trouble. Mine eye is consumed
with grief. Yea, my soul and my belly." He
grieves over many things. He grieves over the feeling of
having, for one thing, having failed to impact lives in a positive
way, he thinks. And he says in verse 11, I was
of a reproach among all my enemies. Well, now that's to be expected.
But then he says, but especially among my neighbors and a fear to my acquaintance. They that did see me without
fled from me. People see me coming down the
street and they cross over to the other side to avoid me, to
keep from having to speak to me. Some of us have been there. I was a reproach. Verse 12, I am forgotten as a
dead man out of mind. They've tried to forget. I ever
existed. I am not good enough for their
religious circle. Verse 13, For I have heard the
slander of many. They took a word, misunderstood,
misinterpreted, And in their minds have written and published
volumes about how awful I am. Negativity, negative, damaging,
slander. They've all agreed that I don't
deserve to live. And the middle of verse 13 tells
the psalmist's heart, fear was on every side. While they took counsel together
against me, they devised to take away my life. And now here's
the message, verse 14. But I trusted in Thee, O Lord.
I said, Thou art my God. My times are in Thy hand. No one can lift a finger against
me apart from the word of my God to do so. I want to tell you there is stability
in faith in our God. And so this morning for you who
have a heart to honor God, And you pray for strength to take
responsibility for your life where God's put you. As a husband,
as a wife, as a parent, as a friend, as a believer, you're willing
to take responsibility for that. There is strength in the Lord.
Some in our midst this morning and many not here this morning. Some of you are facing this year's
end with some serious health issues. Some with some serious family
issues. Some with some serious financial
issues. I just want you to know if you
really have a heart for the Lord, then those are his problems. And he'll take care of his problems. But if you don't have that heart
for the Lord, then they're your problems. That's how it works. But I just want to say that our
God is on top of everything. He rules over all. He's not missed anything. He's
not going to miss anything. There are times in your life
and mine when it seems like he's a million miles away, but he
never is. He never is. And we have a whole Bible full
of things to look at. You remember when the Israelites
were in Egypt? And oh, they were in such a shape.
They were laboring hard under the Egyptian taskmasters, being
mistreated. And some of them were thinking,
no doubt, I wonder if there even is a God. You ever been there? But you know what the Lord said? Here's what he said to Moses.
I have seen the affliction of my people. I know where they're
at. I know the mess they're in. And
Moses, I want you to go down there and lead them out of Egypt. I've seen their affliction. He's
seen yours. Then I think about those seven
churches, Revelation 2 and 3, representative of God's church
overall. They were suffering under the
cruel arm of Rome, persecuted. Rome being urged on by the Jews
to stamp out Christianity. The Lord addressed each one of
those seven churches by saying, I know. I know. I know about you. I know about
you. And I would say to us this morning
at East Hendersonville, if you had the ability to hear this
morning, the voice of God in all your trouble, You'd hear him speak these words
to you personally. I know. You're not anywhere I
don't know about. You're not facing anything I
don't know about. You don't have any problem I
don't know about. I know what you are. I know all of it. I know what you're
facing. I know what you're thinking.
And some of you this morning are thinking this. A new year
really means nothing to me. It really offers no more than
the old one did. But the Lord would say to us
this morning, I can be there for you. I can help you. I can fix some things if you
listen and if you'll follow. Some of you this morning are
carrying a heavy load. some heavier than you should be having to
carry in our minds because of so many others that don't care.
And we all rub shoulders with people every day that by their very attitude and
lifestyle are saying, I don't need God. But you this morning know that
you do. And all our sorrows, the Lord
would say to us, I care for you and I can do for you. I'm bigger than you ever thought
I was. I have this thought and this
ought to do us for the next couple of hours. If y'all stay, you
know, throughout the scriptures, God calls even the wild beast,
the animal kingdom, to forget their natural instinct in order to care for his people.
Now what about that? Y'all remember the story of Elijah?
There was a famine in the land. It didn't rain for three and
a half years. People were starving to death.
And the Lord told him to go to a certain place, this is 1st
Kings 17, and to hide himself by the brook Cherith. It's not
that Elijah was a coward, oh no. But the Lord had to get him
out of sight, they was going to kill him. And the Bible says that the Lord,
he wasn't to leave that spot. And the Lord sent ravens. every
day, morning and evening, and brought him flesh, meat to eat. Now as most of you know, ravens
by nature are a flesh eating bird. They ain't going to give
up a piece of meat to nobody. But God calls them to go against
and forget their natural instinct and bring his servant a steak or some kind of meat
twice a day. And God never failed. God never
failed. What about that? Of course, you remember Jonah. He was committing suicide, by
the way. Throw me overboard. He had no idea. There wasn't
any other boats around. He couldn't swim that far. He
said, I'm out of here. Throw me overboard. But God,
the Bible says, prepared a great fish. Now God could have done
that instantly. In two seconds, God could have
prepared that great fish to swallow Jonah. But I'd rather believe
God did it naturally. The fish was born just like thousands
of others. And it grew and it grew. And
it never got sick and died. And it never got caught. But it was prepared. God prepared
a great fish to swallow Jonah. Jonah said, I'm done. God said,
you're not done. He said, I'm out of here. God
said, you're not out of here. I'll quit. God said, you won't
quit. And he took care of him. The
story of Daniel touched on this in our Bible class this morning,
they were going to throw him into a den of lions and did. And I mentioned this, some liberal
wrote years ago that yes, they threw Daniel into a lion's den,
but it was a time, it was a season when they had taken the lions
out of the den. No, that's a lie. The Bible don't
say they threw him into a lion's den. The Bible says they threw
him into a den of lions. The lions were in there. But
God gave them the lockjaw. And against their natural instinct,
they weren't hungry all that night. Lions are always hungry.
History says in the Babylonian kingdom, before they threw people
in, they would starve those lions for days. And then they would
delight in seeing them catch a feller on the way down before
he even hit the ground. Crush their bones in the environment,
pull them apart. Never happened that night. God. Then there's the story of Elisha.
This one may not be so familiar to some of you. After Elijah
was taken up In a chariot of fire, in a whirlwind to heaven,
without dying, his servant Elisha saw it. And I believe he told
the people, I believe he preached it, how Elijah left here. He just went up. And Elisha was a bald-headed
fellow, like Michael and like Joey. Partly. Anyway, there were some
children made fun of Elisha, God's prophet. And they said, go up you bald
head, go up you bald head, making fun of that bald headed prophet.
And the go up part was because he had told them that Elijah
had been carried up. God had took him. And so they're
making fun. Go up, you bald head! And the Bible says that 42, I
mean, excuse me, the Bible says that two she-bears, that's females,
sows, mean, come running out of the bushes and devoured 42. of those kids, 42 of them. God takes care of His people. One time Simon Peter, this is
in the New Testament, he was asked by those who were
always picking, don't your master pay taxes? Peter went back. He never said
anything to the Lord, but he knew it. The Lord knew it. And there's several places like
that in the New Testament. A person would come back into
the presence of the Lord and he'd start talking to him about
something that just happened to him and they hadn't told him. And so the Lord said to Peter,
I want you to go fish. and said the first fish you catch. He didn't say if you
catch any. He said the first fish you catch. Look in his mouth. Look down
his throat. Don't have to check them all. Just the first one
you catch. And there's going to be a piece
of money in there. And you take that and go pay my taxes and yours. Render unto Caesar the things
that are Caesar's. Take care of it. We're talking about God. God
has protected, God has provided, even causing the creation, just
the animal kingdom. to forget their natural instinct
and to act contrary to it, to take care of his people. So in
this Psalm, David is reminiscing. He's looking back over the seasons
of his life. And he says, God was there as a boy. Just a shepherd, just
a little boy taking care of my father's sheep. One time there
was a bear come charging out of the bushes, going to devour
one of the lambs, and I slew him. Another occasion there was a
lion come pouncing out of the woods, going to devour some of
the flock, and I slew that lion. God helped me do that. when I
was just a boy. And he said, in a few years,
my daddy sent me to check on my brothers who were in the military. They were some kind of something
in uniform. And when I got there, I heard
this rattin' and ravin' Philistine giant, huge fella, cursing God,
cursing Israel. And God gave me the grace. God
gave me the strength. Something just started swelling
up in me. And I said, I'll take him on. And he did. And he slew Goliath. God did that. God did that. And of course, that created a
great deal of envy and jealousy in the heart of King Saul, who's
the fellow that ought to have went out there and fought, but
he wouldn't do it. So then he sought to kill David and David
went into hiding for 20 years, 20 long years. He hid out, lived
in the woods, lived in caves. During that time, suffered hunger
and cold. And during that time, he would
take his men, would go out at night and would slay Philistines. and protect the flocks and the
herds of the Israelites. You can read about one of them
in 1 Samuel 25. There was this wicked feller named Nabal. Greedy. Son of Belial, the Bible called
him. David and his men took care of that feller's sheep. He never
lost a single one. God was doing this for David. And then David was given to King
Saul's daughter, Michal, to marry her. And she
hated him. She mocked him for worshiping
God. David's thinking back over all
these experiences in his life. Most of us have got many things
to think back on like that. Then there was a time of weakness
in his own flesh when he took another man's wife, Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah.
And then to cover up his sin, he had to have Uriah put to death
for his guilty of murder. It was a crime for which there
was no sacrifice. He was to be put to death. But
God never killed him. He spared him. And then there was a later time
in David's life with a family when one of his sons raped his
own sister. And another of his sons killed
that son. And then there was his eldest
son, his pride and joy, Absalom. who rebelled against him and
won the hearts of the young men of Israel. And he revolted against his own
dad and was going to kill him. Ahithophel, David's faithful,
he thought, advisor, friend, betrayed him, went with Absalom. David finally has to flee for
his life. He leaves the throne. But in
all this, God was with David. You can look at this list. I've
talked about David. And you can present your own
list to the Lord. And I'm saying to you this morning,
you don't have to question God. In all that's happened in your
past, in all that will happen in your future, God will be faithful. You can count on that. He will
not leave you all the days of your life. I love that. I love him for that. Turn with me to Psalm 23 and
I'll be through. I want to share this with you
this morning, Psalm 23. Most of you could quote this or quote most of it. In verse 6, he said, surely goodness
and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. I read years ago, a writer emphasized
that line, all the days of my life. And he said that it belongs after
every statement in the Psalm. So in conclusion this morning,
I want to read it like that. And I trust the Lord will put
it in every heart this morning. to face this new year in the
right way. The Lord is my shepherd all the
days of my life. I shall not want, which means
I shall not be lacking, all the days of my life. He maketh me to lie down in green
pasture. all the days of my life. He leadeth
me beside the still waters all the days of my life. He restoreth my soul all the
days of my life. He leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness for His name's sake. all the days of my life. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, all the days of my life, I will
fear no evil all the days of my life. For thou art with me
all the days of my life. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me all the days of my life. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies all the days of my life. Thou knowest my head with oil
all the days of my life. My cup runneth over all the days
of my life. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the
house of the Lord, not just all the days of my life, but forever. Forever. So this morning, may
the Lord help us. May He put it in our hearts to
face the new year, conscious of our responsibilities. in whatever
capacity he's placed us in life. And you're not where you are
by accident. You're not married by accident.
You're not single by accident. You're not employed by accident.
You're not unemployed by accident. You're not healthy by accident.
You're not sick by accident. We have a God. Lord, help us to be conscious. of the responsibility given,
conscious of your purpose in it, that God does nothing for
nothing. He does everything for something.
He has a purpose. Then help us to be conscious
of the glory of God in all things, that He might be glorified. The Lord should put that in your
heart. You'll experience what we've read this morning. All
the days of your life. Thank you for your attention.