There is a great, great mercy
of our God that we commonly fail to appreciate. A great mercy of our God that
none of us sufficiently are thankful for. The Lord God graciously
hedges about his people with strong restraints of providence
and omnipotent restraints of grace, keeping us from those
grave outward sins that give Zion's enemies occasion to blaspheme
God and mock the gospel of his grace. He plants his fear deep
in the heart. He causes his spirit, the spirit
of his grace, to spring up as a well of living water flowing
through the soul. And by his providence and grace,
he keeps us, for the most part, from great acts of iniquity in
our outward lives. So that for the most part, you
will not find God's people doing things that Others see and bring
reproach upon the gospel and our Redeemer. How we ought to
thank God every day, every hour, every moment for that grace that
keeps us from displaying outwardly what we know ourselves to be
inwardly. Yes, it is true. Sometimes a
man who has found grace in the eyes of the Lord will be found
in a drunken stupor, wallowing in his nakedness to his shame,
so that his reprobate son will pass by and laugh and mock and
deride him and seek to bring reproach upon the God who saved
him by his grace. Sometimes you'll find a Noah
drunk. Sometimes a man of great faith
will choose to pitch his tent toward a place like Sodom and choose to stay there until
God takes him from that place. Sometimes you'll find a lot who
chooses to live in Sodom, a righteous man. Don't forget that, a righteous
man. Sometimes the mighty Samson,
what a great deliverer, what a great judge of Israel, what
a great man of faith, what an example of faith, what a great
type and picture of our Lord Jesus. But sometimes the mighty
Samson will work hard to lay his head in Delilah's lap sometimes. It has happened that a man after
God's own heart so lust after another man's wife that he takes
her. And then he murders his faithful
friend to cover his crime. Sometimes you'll find David in
the arms of Bathsheba with Uriah's blood on his hands, sometimes.
Sometimes the wisest man upon the earth, godly King Solomon,
the wisest man on the earth, the man who stood head and shoulders
above all of the men for the wisdom and grace and peace God
put upon him and his kingdom. Sometimes the wisest man on earth
will bow to the will of a wicked wife and be found worshiping
at the altar of a pagan idol. Sometimes you'll find Solomon
in Ashtoreth's temple, sometimes. Sometimes you'll find a great,
great preacher, great preacher. I've never known one to compare
with him, a great preacher, a great preacher, a great man. a great
man, made great by God's grace, cussing and denying the Lord
Jesus. Sometimes you'll find a Peter
in Pilate's judgment hall warming himself by the fires of the ungodly. Sometimes the most soundly orthodox,
the most useful, and the most used of preachers in a moment
of weakness, will shave his head and take a Jewish vow to get
along with a bunch of legalists. Sometimes you'll find an Apostle
Paul doing that. Such sad falls do occur. They are plainly recorded in
the book of God, usually with no explanation. with no hint
of extenuating circumstances, and certainly with no excuse.
They're written in the Word of God plainly, and they're written
there for our learning and our admonition that we may know something
about ourselves, something about God's salvation, and something
about God's free grace in Jesus Christ the Lord. These things
are written to teach us as God alone can teach us. And he graciously
reminds us that we are kept only by him. Kept by the restraints of providence
and the restraints of grace working in us. How many times if you
dare to consider it, if you dare to consider it, has God kept
you in your times of great weakness and propensity to evil from the
opportunity to perform the evil that's in you? How many, many
times? And God graciously restrains
us from the evil that's in us by the constant working of his
grace. Now, having said that, I must hasten to declare that
though we are usually kept from grave, gross, outward wickedness,
the righteous do fall. And all the righteous know that
they fall. And, Merle, it's not an easy
thing to deal with. It's not a laughing matter. It's
not a light matter. It's not something about which
we joke or take lightly. The righteous, the just man,
Solomon tells us, falleth seven times. He falleth seven times, the just
man. Not the wicked, not the ungodly,
the righteous falleth seven times. That word seven speaks of completion. The righteous in the totality
of his life, in everything he is, in everything he does, continually
falls. Oh, you may not see it. And he
usually doesn't see it, but we are fully aware of it. With that
said, I want you to turn with me to Micah chapter 7 and verse
8. Micah chapter 7 and verse 8. The title of my message tonight
is When I Fall. When I Fall. And I'm going to be talking about
Don. I'm going to be talking real plain about Don Fortner.
And if you can enter into it, enter into it. If you can't,
one of us doesn't know God. Is that plain enough, Bill? If
you can enter into what I've got to say, enter into it. If
you can't, you or I one don't know God. One of us doesn't know
God. Micah chapter 7 verse 8. Rejoice not against me, O mine
enemy, when I fall. Rejoice not against me, O mine
enemy, when I fall. We have an enemy who seeks to
entrap us all the time and would, if he could, destroy us. But
failing at that, he rejoices to watch us fall. His name is
Satan. Apollyon, the devil. The adversary
of our souls, continually opposing us in all things. Rejoice not
against me, O my enemy. When I fall, I shall arise. Not, I shall pick myself up.
not I shall recover not I shall fix things I shall arise being
raised up by the hand of my Redeemer my God and my Savior when I sit
in darkness Bob this is God's prophet talking
this is God's prophet Micah when I sit in darkness when I sit
in darkness The Lord shall be a light unto
me. When Micah says, when I fall,
he is not saying I might possibly fall. Oh, I might slip up once
in a while. That's not what he's saying.
He's not saying there's some possibility now. I know I'm not
perfect. I might sin here and there. That's
not what he's saying. He's not saying there's within
me the potential to fall. But rather he is right in the
midst of describing his present fallen condition. And he is asserting
to us the certainty that he would fall again. Micah doesn't say
if I fall, he says when I fall. Look up at verse 1. This chapter
begins with a sorrowful note of lamentation. Micah says, woe
is me. Woe is me. Woe is me. This mournful cry we often hear
falling from the lips of faithful men in this book. Woe is me. Unlike the happy, clappy religious
hypocrites of our day, who pretend that salvation is all sugar and
smiles. Faithful men are honest men. Tell you a little of what maybe
pointed me in this direction, preparing this message. Last
Saturday night, after I finished preaching in Nebworth at the
conference there, a fella came up to me and he said, Brother
Don, I'd like to ask you a question. And I had a hunch he wasn't asking
me a question. And I said, well, that's fine,
what is it? And he said, you said I have a wicked heart. I
don't have a wicked heart. And I turned around and started
to walk off. And he grabbed my hand and said, I'd like to have
a response. I said, you've said enough. You've
said enough. His purpose wasn't to ask a question.
His purpose was to assert something and convince me that what I just
preached was altogether wrong. I'm happy enough to answer your
questions or anybody else's, but I'm not about to stand around
and argue folks about what I know so in this book. Not you, not
anybody else. Micah says, woe is me when I fall. He's talking about
something he's experienced, something that's common to God's people.
When Isaiah saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted
up and his train filled the temple, he cried out as if he was pierced
at his very heart by the view of Christ Jesus in his glory. Woe is me for I'm undone. I'm undone because I'm a man
of unclean lips. And I dwell in the midst of a
people of unclean lips. Now remember, this is God's prophet
Isaiah. He's already written to us five
chapters of inspiration. This is God's prophet. He says,
woe is me. I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean
lips. And everybody living around me
is just like I am. I live in the midst of a people
of unclean lips. For mine eyes have seen the King,
the Lord of hosts. Jeremiah expressed much the same
thing. He cried, what sadness is mine,
my mother? Oh, that I had died at birth. When Ezekiel's role was written
within and without, There was written therein lamentations
and mournings and woe. But what was the cause of Micah's
woe? What was the cause of his lamentation?
Why was this man so mournful? Why was his heart so heavy? What
was it that pressed him down continually, that crushed his
heart and mind before God? Without question, there are many
things listed in verses 2 through 6 that gave Michael great trouble. Things that caused him great
heaviness. The professed church of God in Michael's day, like
our day, was almost swallowed up with Babylon. Almost altogether
taken aside with idolatry. Almost consumed with that which
was false, forsaking that which is true. And that's where we
are in this generation. As in our day, in Micah's day,
the society around him was a society of utter moral debauchery. No moral fabric to society. Nothing in society that you'd
want. Nothing. Nothing. In Micah's
day, as in ours, the political world as well as the religious
world was operating on the bribery, just bribery. Everybody was for
hire. Everybody could be bought for
one price or another. But what was the thing that crushed
him? Look at verse one. Micah speaks
plainly. His brokenness, his contrition
of heart before God was his own deeply felt sense of the fact
that his own soul was barren, unfruitful and empty. Oh, my
God. I know what that is. Woe is me. And watch what it
says, for I am, I am, I am. as when they've gathered the
summer fruits, as the great greetings of the vintage. There is no cluster
to eat. Micah said, I am as a man with
nothing to eat, not to put in my mouth, to feed upon with my heart, nothing
to satisfy my soul from within. Look at it. He says my soul desired
the first ripe fruits. There's no greater source of
continual sorrow for God's saints than the sense of our barrenness. We delight in the law of God
after the inward man. Every saved sinner does. every
safe center. There's nothing written in this
book that we don't delight in. Take the Ten Commandments, take
the laws given to Israel, take the commandments given, the precepts
throughout the Word, the whole Word of God, we delight in it
after the inward man. There's nothing I've read in
this book in all these years, nothing I've read in this book.
God be my witness. God be my witness, about which
I do not delight. Nothing. Nothing. We would be
filled with those fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto
the glory and praise of God. But when I contrast my own miserable,
unprofitable condition, my coldness and deadness of heart, My proneness,
my propensity to every evil. My backwardness and disinclination
to every good. My daily wanderings and departings
from the living God. My depraved affection, my sensual
lust. My carnal desires and my overmuch
love of this world. When I contrast those glaring
realities that I have to deal with every day of my life, I
cannot deny what I see and know should be the fruit of grace,
grace growing in me as the fruitful branch in Christ Jesus, the only
true vine. And I'm compelled to cry with
Micah, Woe is me. Listen to this. We often say misery loves company.
We're in good company. Isaiah said, from the uttermost
part of the earth, Have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous? But I said, my leanness, my leanness,
woe is me. Job, that man whom God described
as upright, a perfect man, one who feared God and eschewed evil,
there was none like him in the East. Job said, thou hast filled
me with wrinkles. Which is a witness against me
and my leanness rising up in me beareth witness to my face
the Apostle Paul Cried Oh wretched man that I am. Oh Wretched man
that I am Read the third chapter of the book of Lamentations turn
back there and look at it Lamentations chapter 3 just read it without
comment Hear the cries of God's weeping prophet Lamentations
chapter 3 Here is Jeremiah this broken-hearted
sinner This broken-hearted sinner saved by God's pure free grace
in Christ He says in verse 1 chapter 3. I am the man. I Am the man as if there's nobody
else who's ever been here. I Nobody else who's ever been
so low. Nobody else who's ever stooped
so low. Nobody else who's ever fallen
so low. Nobody else who's ever been...
I am the man which has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. He hath
led me and brought me into darkness but not into light. Surely against
me as he turned, He turneth his hand against me all the day.
My flesh and my skin hath he made old. He hath broken my bones. He hath builded against me and
compassed me with gall and travail. But Brother Don, God's never
angry with his people. Never. But he often appears to
be. He often appears to be. All the years our daughter lived
in our house. I believe she would bear witness.
I'm sure she would. I know her mother would. I considered
the discipline of the family to be my responsibility. And
if I was on a trip, Shelby said, when your daddy gets home, you're
going to get a spanking. She knew she was going to get a spanking.
And sometimes I would get angry with her. But tell you what,
I never did. Not one time. I never paddled
her when I was mad at her. I was waiting till I got over
that. And made sure she knew I wasn't mad at her. Made sure
she knew that. But you know, while she's feeling
that paddle on her butt, I'm sure she wasn't convinced. I'm
sure she thought my daddy hates me. My daddy will never love
me again. My daddy will never be the same
again. Because that's how it feels when
the rod is laid to the backside. Rod, that was nothing but the
exercise of love in the best way possible. This is where Jeremiah
is. Look at verse five. He hath builded
against me and compassed me with gall and travail. He hath set
me in dark places as they that be dead of old. He hath hedged
me about that I cannot get out. He hath made my chain heavy.
Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer. He hath
enclosed my ways with hewn stone. He hath made my paths crooked.
He was unto me as a bear lying in wait and as a lion in secret
places. He hath turned aside my ways
and pulled me in pieces. He hath made me desolate. He
hath bent his bow and set me as a mark for the arrow. He hath
caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins. I was
a derision to all my people and their song all the day. He hath
filled me with bitterness. He hath made me drunken with
wormwood. He hath broken my teeth with
gravel stones. He hath covered me with ashes.
And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace. I forgot
prosperity. And I said, my strength and my
hope is perished from the Lord. Remembering mine affliction and
my misery, the wormwood and the gall, my soul hath them still
in remembrance and is humbled in me. That was his object all along.
My soul hath them still in remembrance and is humbled in me. Back in
Genesis 25, you don't need to turn there. When Rebecca found
two nations struggling in her womb, she asked the Lord a question. A question I often ask, why am
I thus? That's exactly what Paul experienced
in the seventh chapter of Romans. When he said, I know that in
me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. The evil that
I would not that I do, and when I would do good, evil is present
with me. Why? Why am I like this? Why is this evil, this sin? this corruption, this iniquity
so prominent in my nature and yours? What's the answer? The word of God alone supplies
the answer. The fact is all true believers
are people with two natures, flesh and spirit. two natures
constantly, constantly at war with one another. Flesh warring
against the spirit, spirit warring against the flesh. The flesh
will never surrender and the spirit will never surrender. The flesh will never prevail,
but the spirit will never bow. God, the Holy Spirit, rules us
from within by his grace, giving us his grace continually. And
yet the flesh, though subdued, never bows. We don't live after
the flesh and we don't walk after the flesh. We live after the
spirit and we walk in the spirit, living by faith in Christ Jesus.
That's what it is to walk in the Spirit. It is to live by
faith in Christ Jesus. When I sit in darkness, the Lord
is my light. When I sit in bondage, the Lord
is my liberty. When I am overwhelmed with iniquity,
the Lord is my righteousness. Walking in the spirit's got nothing
to do with this stupidity, waving hands and rolling your eyes and
acting spiritual. I expect that from folks dancing
around a voodoo fire somewhere, not in a Baptist church. That's
stupid. It's insane. It's contrary to
everything in this book. Walking in the spirit is to believe
God and we walk in the spirit. And yet while we live in this
world, We never escape the lust of the flesh. And painful as this condition
is, it's best for us. It's best for us. Rex, if it
weren't best for us, our father would do otherwise. If it weren't best for us, our
father would do otherwise. Painful as this condition is
it's the best condition in which we are to live in this world
and Live we will with this flesh while we live in this world I'll
give you three reasons and then I want to return To this subject
when I fall Why is it best for us to live
with this corrupt, depraved, sinful nature called Adam and
flesh. We must never, never, never forget that the only thing that distinguishes
God's people from the damned in hell and the reprobate who
live on this earth is the distinguishing grace of God. Don't you forget
that. Don't you forget that, oh, my
soul. Who make it the to differ from
another? And what has thou that thou didst
not receive? Now, if thou didst receive it,
why does thou glory as if thou has not received it? That's true
of all things natural. and of all things spiritual. Some of you folks get to be 61,
62, 63 years old, and you're strong and vibrant, got a head
full of dark hair, no wrinkles on your face, and then some of
us look like this. Why? Because that's the way God
made you. That's the way God made me. Some
of you real smart, some of us are real slow. How come? Because that's the way God made
you, the way God made me. Oh, but I studied hard, worked
hard. Let God take a little bit of your brain away and see how
hard you study. The difference is what God has
done in all things physical and natural. Don't forget it. And
in all things spiritual, Difference is what God's done.
That's all. That's all. If you believe God
and another doesn't, it's because God gives you faith and sustains
it. If your brother falls while you're standing beside him in
the same place and you don't, it's because God sustains you.
That's all. That's all. Nothing else. If
you have some knowledge of something in this book and your brother
reads the same book and passes by and doesn't get it, it's because
God spoke to you, not because you're smarter than another. What do you have that you've
not received? So quit boasting and bragging and thinking highly
of yourself as if you're somebody. Number two, we must never forget
that our only ground of acceptance with God is the blood and righteousness
of God's darling son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Never forget. Never, never, never, never forget. We are accepted In the beloved. Now, because of something we
do. And because of some high mighty great thing we do. Only
by his blood and righteousness, Joe, that's all. That's all. Not your Bible reading, not your
giving, not your church attendance, not your good works, not your
Sunday school pens, just Christ's blood and righteousness. Number
three. God's left us as we are, struggling with this flesh, warring
with this old nature. What a horrible lack of ability
I have to describe this life fighting with death. Always at war with death. Always
at war with myself. And God could stop it like that.
Like that. He could remove this old nature
while I live in this world just as easily as He shall when I
leave this world. We're talking about God, not
some peanut. So why does He leave us like
this? Here's the third reason. We must
never become content with our existence here. Never. You get goods and lands and family
and friends and you, oh, now I got it made now. Now I got
it made. And God opens up your heart to you. And the goods, and the lands,
and the power, and the family, and the friends, all combined
haven't a sufficient pull to keep your heart here. but rather we labor that whether
present or absent, we may be accepted of the Lord. So while we live here, we live
as the church describes herself in the song of Solomon, my heart
is as to our mess. Now, go back to Micah chapter
7, verse 8. Rejoice not against me, O my
enemy. When I fall, I shall arise. I'll send you home with these
five statements. These inward conflicts of flesh
and spirit, of sin and righteousness, of holiness and iniquity. These inward conflicts are facts
in every believer's life. In every believer's life. There
is in you that old man Adam that can do nothing but sin and that
new man created in righteousness and in true holiness Christ in
you the hope of glory that cannot sin. And the two are constantly
at loggerheads. This conflict, secondly, is caused
by and begins with the new birth. I got along myself just fine until God stepped in. And I've been living in hatred
of myself ever since. This conflict began when God
created a new man in me. When God makes you a new creature
in Christ Jesus. Number three, these inward conflicts we have
with ourselves do have some good effects. They do have some good
effects. Brother Todd called me several
weeks ago and asked me about the two natures. He said, how
do you put this? When I sin, is that me? Or did
he say, that's the old man? I said, yes, that's right. That's
me and that's the old man. And when you walk before God
with faith, is that me or that new man? Yeah, that's me. That's
the new man. Paul said, when I do that which
I would not, no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in
me. And then he turned around and talked about, I've done this,
I've done that evil thing. And we recognize that the old
man is what I really am by nature. And the new man. Oh, bless God, this is so. It's
what I really am by God's grace. what I really am in Christ Jesus. And recognizing this, I recognize
the salvations of the Lord. And I recognize that the hand
of God's omnipotent grace can reach anybody, anywhere on this
earth and snatch them from their ruin, even you. and from their
darkness, even you, and from their prison house, even you,
and from their death, even you, and give them life eternal. And
I recognize that no flesh is to glory in God's presence. Of him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God has made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification,
and redemption. Well, Brother Dodd, you talk
as if salvation is all God's work and we got nothing to do
with it. I hope that's how you heard me talk. That's exactly
right. Well, what about man's part?
I'm so sick of hearing that, aren't you? I'll tell you man's
part. I did the running, God did the
catching. I did the sinning, God did the saving. That's exactly
right. Well, but you know, man's got
to do something. Man can't do anything. He's dead. If right now you begin to believe
God, it's because God opened your heart, gave you life, and
brings faith to pass in your heart by the operation of his
grace. Number four. These conflicts We continue to experience. And
these conflicts we experience according to God's purpose with
confidence. Because when I fall, I shall
arise. Fall, I have. Fall, I am. And fall I shall. But I cannot
fall from grace. And I cannot fall from the arms
of my Redeemer. And I cannot fall beyond the
reach of his all sufficient grace toward me. I shall arise because
the Lord lifts me up. And when I sit in darkness, And I do. Oh, what darkness. No light in myself. No bright shining thing in here
to give me any hope. No feeling. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. When I sit
in darkness, the Lord shall be light. unto me. He is my light and my salvation. He is my light and my salvation. And I'll give you one more thing. Oh, bless God. It'll soon be over. This warfare
shall soon end. And we shall be utterly, perfectly,
completely as our Redeemer without sin. Amen.